M. Secondly‚ many people from the online community helped me in learning how to phrase myself so that explanations were understandable‚ and corrected me when I got things wrong — something that deﬁnitely improves anyone’s skill at anything by reinforcing that some things shouldn’t be what you thought them to be. ix
. Their help with (Xe)LaTeX related questions has been greatly appreciated‚ and although singling individual users out would be nearly impossible‚ the principle creater of XeTeX‚ Jonathan Kew‚ and the author of Fontspec‚ Will Robertson‚ do deserve special mention.Acknowledgements
This book‚ like its precursors‚ wasn’t wri en in one go — many people contributed in some way or other to making sure that this book got turned from just a thought into something real. I owe them gratitude. Their comments while teaching‚ sometimes related to the language‚ and sometimes going oﬀ on completely random tangents‚ have enriched my experience of the language in such a way that has made it fun‚ as well as something to play with rather than to formally study. Gratitude should also be extended to the people on the XeTeX mailing list‚ without whose help this book would have taken far longer to realise. Sarah Wiebe‚ Ayako Sasaki‚ Andreas Wallin‚ Raymond Calla‚ Maarten van der Heijden‚ Giulio Agostini‚ Emmanuel Auclair‚ Sergi Esteve and many unnamed others deserve not just my‚ but also your thanks — they helped reﬁne the material from a mass of typos and convoluted phrases into the publication it is now! Special thanks goes out to Edmund Dickinson‚ who took upon him the task of scrutinising the book’s English. Oya‚ have contributed to me enjoying learning the language greatly‚ much more than I would have had I merely kept on studying the language at home. Many of these were from the IRC channel “#nihongo” on the irchighway network‚ and while some people have since moved on‚ others have stuck around and it remains a nice source of conversation concerning Japanese and other ma ers to this day. Kunimori and Mr. N. My thanks go out to those people that have helped proof the book or parts of its content in either the old or new incarnation. Foremost my teachers at Leiden University‚ Mr. Without his help‚ this book would have been of far lower quality.

x
. Thank you for being in my life — this book is dedicated to you.Finally‚ as a special dedication‚ I would like to thank Cynthia Ng‚ who has been my support for years now‚ kept me motivated to ﬁnish this book‚ helped in editing the content‚ and became my wife during the ﬁnal stages of ﬁnishing this book.

This book was wri en in several phases‚ using several programs.. The ﬁrst full-content version was based on the original “An Introduction to Japanese Syntax‚ Grammar and Language” wri en in 2005‚ which was wri en in plain text using Textpad‚ after which it got turned into DocBook XML using XMLmind XML Editor. I’ve spent as much time on it as I could‚ in between my normal job and spending time on vacations in Canada to be with the person who has helped me tremendously in ge ing this book done and keeping me motivated to do so‚ and I hope the result is something you feel was worth paying money for.com website‚ in 2005-2006. While I enjoyed learning and through the process of explaining the things I had learnt to others via what became www. It’s taken close to a year to go from deciding to revise the old grammar book to being able to oﬀer you a restructured‚ reworked‚ and more than half rewri en book on the Japanese language‚ but hopefully the wait was worth it. In retrospect‚ it’s a good thing he did‚ because it took forever to get from the draft version to an edited ﬁnal version. Well over a hundred thousand downloads later‚ and with over ﬁfteen thousand hits on it per week still‚ the time has ﬁnally come to revise it‚ and give everyone what they’ve been asking for for some time now: a proper paper version in addition to the digital copy. I also knew that I had to do something with the book: I had promised many people by now I would ﬁnish it and I didn’t like the idea of le ing those people down.com‚ I was still a ﬁrst year student with not exactly a lot of weight or experience under my belt. Instead‚ in 2005 I decided that the information I was oﬀering the world was somewhat out of date‚ and needed a rewrite. The ﬁrst version of my book I oﬀered to my teacher to scrutinise‚ and scrutinise he did. This was then converted to WordprocessingML using a custom script‚ and ﬁnal styling was done in Microsoft Word‚ before converting that to PDF form using xi
.Preface
You are reading the ﬁrst revision (or if you bought this‚ also the ﬁrst print version!) of the Japanese grammar book that I started writing while I was still taking classes in Japanese. and consequently failed at (the book‚ not the courses). Or‚ if you didn’t buy it but are reading this as a digital copy‚ then I hope you might ﬁnd it good enough to want to have it si ing on your shelf as paper copy as well. I have to admit‚ I was a bit overzealous. As such‚ I began to write what ended up as a permanent draft copy of a grammar book‚ freely available from the nihongoresources..nihongoresources. Three years later‚ the book has certainly proved its popularity.

Because dokuwiki stores its data as plain text ﬁles‚ I wrote a set of conversion scripts to turn the dokuwiki code into LaTeX code‚ which then gets run through the XeLaTeX processing engine‚ which results in a fully indexed‚ cross-referenced‚ ToC-ed and for all intents and purposes publication-ready PDF ﬁle.com as a dokuwiki documentation project. Thank you for making writing this worth while‚ and good luck! Mike “Pomax” Kamermans
xii
.Adobe’s Acrobat PDF building tools. The data itself now lives on the internet‚ and can be found on h p://grammar.nihongoresources. The new process is actually much more fun‚ and allows me to automate the whole book-making process in the future‚ when errata must be processed‚ and new content is added. In the end‚ I had fun rewriting the book‚ and pu ing together the technologies to turn the book content into something you can actually read‚ and I hope you will have fun reading this‚ and ﬁnd it aids you in your studies of Japanese.

From the lowest to the highest‚ we see the kana and kanji‚ used to compose words‚ which are used to compose sentences‚ which in turn function as the building blocks of the spoken and wri en language.1 The kana 1.Chapter 1
The syntax
Syntax in the Japanese language comes in several parts. This Japanese syllabary is a collection of 46 syllables (roughly half of which have ‘voiced’ counterparts) that act as phonetic building blocks in the Japanese language.
1.1 The basics
What the alphabet is to western languages‚ the 五十音‚ “gojuuon”‚ is to Japanese.1. We will look at each of these “blocks” in order‚ and look at how they all come together to form the Japanese language. Arranged in the traditional way‚ and read top-down‚ right-to-left‚ these 46 syllables can be wri en in either of two scripts: hiragana and katakana:
ん わ (ゐ) (ゑ) を ン ワ (ヰ) (ヱ) ヲ ら り る れ ろ ラ リ ル レ ロ や ゆ よ ヤ ユ ヨ ま み む め も マ ミ ム メ モ は ひ ふ へ ほ ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ な に ぬ ね の ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ た ち つ て と タ チ ツ テ ト さ し す せ そ サ シ ス セ ソ か き く け こ カ キ ク ケ コ あ い う え お ア イ ウ エ オ
1
.

These tables seem to contain 48 syllables instead of 46‚ but the two syllables ‘wi’ and ‘we’‚ (ゐ/ヰ and ゑ/ヱ) have not been in use since the Japanese language was revised following shortly after the second world war. They have been included here only for completeness‚ and in modern Japanese do not appear in the syllabaries table. The を is still very much in use‚ but only as a grammatical particle that is pronounced as お‚ and so the only accurate transcription is as ‘o’. However‚ in names it may be pronounced as ‘wo’‚ and so we ﬁnd the consonant in parentheses in the table of transcriptions. We can look at these tables in two ways. Firstly‚ as arrangements in columns. When doing so‚ the ﬁrst column (going right to left rather than left to right) is called the あ—column‚ the second column the か—column‚ and so forth. We can also look at them as arrangements of rows‚ in which case the ﬁrst row is called the あ—row‚ the second one the い—row‚ followed by theう—‚ え— and お—rows. Thus‚ the katakana symbol メ for instance can be found on the え—row of the ま—column. Some of these columns have ‘voiced’ variants. Voicing is a linguistic term used to indicate consonants that are pronounced with air running past the vocal cords. In Japanese‚ the か-‚ さ-‚ た- and は—columns (ka‚ sa‚ ta and ha) can be given
だくてん

A note about ‘dzi’ and ‘dzu’: while these are technically the correct transcriptions for ぢ and づ‚ these syllables have been rendered obsolete in current Japanese‚ with words that used to use ぢ now using じ‚ and words that use づ now using ず. This will be explained in a bit more detail in the section on pronunciation.

In addition to this regular voicing‚ the は—column has a secondary voicはんだくてん

ing‚ indicated with a small circle diacritic mark‚ called ‘handakuten’ (半濁点)‚ which rather than producing a ‘b’ sound‚ produces a ‘p’ sound:

ぱ/パ ぴ/ピ ぷ/プ ぺ/ペ ぽ/ポ

pa pi pu pe po

1.1.2 Writing the kana

Both hiragana and katakana may be relatively simple scripts compared to the complex Chinese characters also in use in Japanese‚ but they both have speciﬁc ways of writing each syllable. The following tables show how to write both hiragana and katakana the proper way. Note that these wri en versions look diﬀerent in places from print form.

4

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

Stroke diagrams for hiragana

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

5

Stroke diagrams for katakana

6

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

1.1.3 Pronouncing Japanese
Pronunciation wise‚ each of these syllables is equally long. This is traditionally explained by referring to the pronunciation of Japanese as mora‚ a linguistic term meaning “the time required to pronounce an ordinary or normal short sound or syllable”. In Japan‚ this concept of mora is usually explained with the easier concept of drum beats: each basic syllable is one beat long‚ with certain combinations of kana lasting one and a half or two beats. The vowel sounds of Japanese‚ あ‚ い‚ う‚ え and お do not all have English equivalents; あ is actually identical to the initial vowel sound in “I” or “eye” — that is‚ the ‘a’ sound without the ﬁnalising ‘i’ sound. The い is a li le easier‚ sounding like the ‘ee’ in ‘creep’. The う is particularly annoying‚ because there is no English equivalent. It is identical to the vowel sounds of properly Sco ish ‘you’ or ‘do’‚ or the Dutch open ‘u’ such as in ‘huren’. え is pronounced like in the English ‘help’‚ and the お‚ ﬁnally‚ is pronounced like the ‘o’ in ‘or’. While for most kana the consonant sound is reasonably approximated by the transcribed consonant as listed in the earlier tables‚ there are a few notable exceptions. For instance‚ while romanised as “hi”‚ ひ/ヒ is usually pronounced with a consonant that doesn’t sound like an ‘h’‚ but more like the German or Sco ish “ch” as found in German words such as “ich” (meaning “I”) and Sco ish words such as “loch” (meaning “lake”). Also in the は-colum‚ the syllable ふ/フ does not have an ‘h’ as consonant sound‚ or even the ‘f’ consonant sound that it is typically transcribed with‚ but rather uses only pure aspiration as initial sound. This is mostly unknown in western languages‚ and will be the hardest to get right for people starting out with Japanese. Rather than being formed in the mouth‚ the syllable ふ starts being formed at the diaphragm‚ while breathing out. Paired with the lips shaped as if casually blowing out a match or candle (rather than tightened for whistling)‚ this rush of air is then given a vowel sound‚ and the syllable is complete. In the つ—column we also see an interesting pronunciation ‘quirk’: while ち and つ‚ strictly speaking‚ have voiced versions‚ wri en ぢ and づ‚ over the years the diﬀerence in pronunciation between ぢ andじ‚ and づ and ず‚ has all but disappeared‚ leading to an oﬃcial move towards replacing these ぢ and づ with じ and ず entirely. However‚ there are (quite a number of) exceptions to this move for replacement: if the two ﬁrst kana of a word are the same‚ but the second one is voiced‚ the same kana are used (for example‚ つづく and ちぢめる). Also‚ in compound words in
かた つ かたづ

which voicing occurs‚ the original kana form is used (for instance‚ 片 + 付く → 片付く
はな ち はなぢ

and 鼻 + 血 → 鼻血). This exception only applies when the compound word can be considered a combination of words. Both 片付く and 鼻血 derive their meaning from
いなずま

their constituent words‚ but in a word like 稲妻‚ meaning “lightning”‚ the ﬁrst kanji refers to rice plants‚ and the second kanji refers to (someone’s) wife. In these words‚

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

7

even if the aﬃxed compound would normally have a つ or ち‚ the voicing is wri en as ず or じ in modern Japanese‚ rather than づ or ぢ. That said‚ voicing in compound nouns is a bit strange in that there are no rules to tell when something will‚ or will not voice‚ so the best strategy — which applies to learning words in general anyway — is to learn words as word ﬁrst‚ then learn them as combinations‚ rather than the other way around. Finally‚ the ら—column can be a problem because for most western listeners‚ diﬀerent people will seem to pronounce the initial consonant in this column diﬀerently. While in many western languages the consonants “d”‚ “l”‚ and “r” are considered quite distinct‚ in Japanese this distinction is far less; any syllable starting with a consonant ranging from a full ﬂedged “l” to a rolling Spanish “r” will be interpreted as a syllable from the ら—column‚ with the “standard” pronunciation being somewhere between a “d” and an “r”.

Not pronouncing Japanese
This sounds like an oddly named section‚ but some bits in wri en Japanese are actually not really pronounced at all. In fact‚ not infrequently you will hear Japanese that does not seem to reﬂect the wri en form‚ with the verb “desu” seemingly being pronounced “des”‚ the adjective “hayaku” seemingly being pronounced “hayak”‚ the command “shiro” seemingly being pronounced “sh’ro”‚ and many more of such vocal omissions. In fact‚ many syllables with an い— or う—sound tend to have these vowel sounds left almost unpronounced. I say almost‚ because the vowel sound is typically preserved by virtue of the consonants used. For instance‚ the word そして‚ transcribed as ‘soshite’ is typically pronounced in such a way that it can be considered transcribable as “sosh’te” instead. However‚ forming “sh” means also forming a pseudo-vowel sound. In fact‚ even in this “omi ed vowel” there is room for variation‚ so that a “sh” can sound like it was supposed to become “shi” or “shu”‚ and it is this feature that is exploited quite heavily in Japanese. This leads to a small problem. Because it sounds like the vowel is entirely missing‚ you might be tempted to mimic this sound‚ but end up genuinely omi ing the vowel entirely because that’s what your ears — which are not yet accustomed to Japanese phonetics — think is happening. However‚ this also makes your Japanese highly unnatural‚ because to a Japanese ear the vowel is only mostly omi ed‚ not entirely. The problem then is one of hearing: when learning a new language it is important to “unlearn” how to hear language. Much like how we have learned to see the world in a way that it’s actually not (you will consider a brown table with a light shining on one end‚ brown‚ instead of brown on one end‚ and a completely diﬀerent colour where the light is hi ing it)‚ as infants we learn to disregard any and all sounds that don’t feature in the languages we’re raised with. As such‚ remarkable as

8

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

this may sound‚ we unlearn how to hear things accurately‚ and instead learn how to map what we hear to what we know the language is supposed to sound like. While highly eﬀective when learning a language‚ or a family of languages with similar pronunciations‚ it’s disastrous when learning a language that has a diﬀerent phonetic system. The best advice with regards to this is to simply listen to a lot of Japanese. It takes time and eﬀort to unlearn the unconscious mapping your brain does for you. You’re going to get it wrong‚ but as long as you know you are‚ you’ll be on the right track.

1.1.4 Hiragana and katakana diﬀerences

If hiragana and katakana sound exactly the same‚ why then are there two diﬀerent scripts? When the Japanese ﬁrst developed a wri en system‚ it was based on the characters used in China for the Chinese language‚ in which for the most part the meaning of the characters were subservient to what they sounded like: if a word had an “a” sound in it‚ then any Chinese character that sounded like “a” could be used for it‚ without any real regard for its meaning. This “using certain characters for their sound only” became more widespread as the number of characters per syllable dropped from quite many to only a handful‚ and as writing became more widespread two syllabic scripts developed. One‚ which simpliﬁed phonetic kanji by omi ing parts of them lead to what is today called katakana. Another‚ which simpliﬁed phonetic kanji by further and further reducing the complexity of the cursive forms for these kanji‚ has become what is known today as hiragana. We can see this illustrated in the next ﬁgure‚ which shows the characters the hiragana came from‚ and the highly stylistic cursive form characters had‚ highlighting the degree of simpliﬁcation that cursive writing brought with it.

The syntax — § 1.1 The kana

9

The hiragana derivations from cursive script

Katakana got a slightly diﬀerent treatment‚ in that these are actually fragments of characters‚ rather than stylistic simpliﬁcations. The second derivations ﬁgure illustrates this‚ with a note that the fragments were lifted from handwri en characters‚ so that the “logic” is mostly found in the cursive line of characters. These two scripts have diﬀered in roles throughout history‚ and in modern Japanese hiragana is used for anything Japanese that does not use (or need) kanji‚ and katakana is used in the same way that we use italics in western language‚ as well as for words that have been imported into Japanese from other languages over the course of history. The only genuine diﬀerence between the two scripts is the way in which long vowel sounds are wri en‚ as we shall see in the next section.

2 Writing spoken japanese
Using the kana as basic building blocks‚ Japanese pronunciation consists of a few more things beyond basic syllables: in addition to “simple” syllable sounds‚ it contains long vowels‚ glides and double consonants.2 Writing spoken japanese
The katakana derivations
1. In katakana‚ long vowels are really just that‚ a vowel with a dash to indicate the sound has been doubled in length‚ but in hiragana the doubling is diﬀerent.10
The syntax — § 1. Long vowels‚ contrary to the name‚ do not always mean “the same vowel‚ twice as long”. Of the ﬁve basic Japanese vowel sounds (あ‚ い‚ う‚ え and お) the ﬁrst three have fairly simple long vowel counterparts in hiragana‚ simply doubling in writing‚ but the la er two are more complicated‚ having two different wri en forms:
. Strictly speaking‚ a long vowel in Japanese is a combination of two vowels‚ pronounced over two “drum beats”.

This doubling is the same for syllables with consonant sounds‚ so that for instance vowel doubling for the syllables from the ま—column look as follows:
hiragana あ い う え お まあ みい むう めえ‚ めい もお‚ もう katakana マー ミー ムー メー モー
In addition to long vowels‚ Japanese words may contain “glides”. For おお‚ the pronunciation is like “oa” in “oak”‚ with おう often sounding the same‚ but when pronounced slowly‚ having a distinct hint of “u” at the end. Being considered contractions of い—row syllables with any one of the three syllables や‚ ゆ and よ‚ glides are wri en as the い—row syllable‚ normal sized‚ and then the や‚ ゆ or よ syllable at either half height (for horizontally wri en Japanese) or half width (for vertically wri en Japanese). Thus‚ the word キャンプ is three beats long: spelled out‚ it will be pronounced きゃ‚ ん and ぷ. To illustrate:
kana き+や し+ゆ ち +よ み+や ひ +よ に+ゆ り +よ きや しゆ ちよ みや ひよ にゆ りよ
pronunciation kiya shiyu chiyo miya hiyo niyu riyo
as glide きゃ しゅ ちょ みゃ ひょ にゅ りょ
pronunciation kya shu cho mya hyo nyu ryo
While a wri en combination of two syllables‚ the glide it represents is only a single “drum beat” long‚ just as the regular syllables.2 Writing spoken japanese
hiragana あ い う え お ああ いい うう ええ‚ えい おお‚ おう katakana アー イー ウー エー オー
11
While the pronunciation for ああ‚ いい and うう are intuitive (same sound‚ twice as long)‚ the pronunciations for ええ‚ えい‚ おお and おう and more subtle. The ﬁrst‚ ええ‚ may be pronounced as a “same sound‚ twice as long” え‚ but may also be pronounced as えい‚ which is similar to the ‘-ay’ in the English ‘hay’.The syntax — § 1.
.

2. To illustrate the diﬀerence between this small つ/ツ and the regular form‚ a few example words:
small っ はっか しっけ まっか normal つ はつか しつけ まつか pronunciation “hakka” “shikke” “makka” pronunciation “hatsuka” “shitsuke” “matsuka” meaning ignition humidity intensely red meaning 20 days/20th day upbringing the ‘Pine’ family of trees
This “つ/ツ as a pause” is also applied when a glo al stop is needed in for instance an exclamation‚ “あっ!”‚ which is an exclamation with a “cut oﬀ” rather than long vowel sound.12
The syntax — § 1. Examples of these are for instance the initial syllable “ﬁ” in the English word “ﬁre”‚ or the “swe” in “Sweden”.1 Katakana speciﬁc
As katakana has been used to write out words imported from other languages into Japanese‚ it has a few extra “rules” that do not apply to wri en hiragana‚ including a number of ways to produce normally “illegal” syllables: syllables that do not ﬁt in the Japanese table of syllables‚ but are found in foreign words nonetheless.2 Writing spoken japanese
Finally‚ the last feature of spoken Japanese reﬂected in writing is what is known as the “double consonant”: a reasonably recent change to the way Japanese is wri en (in the sense that this change occurred sometime during the medieval period‚ when wri en Japanese had been around for a li le under a millennium) which indicates that a particular consonant has a short pause before it is actually pronounced. The table of approximating writing is as follows‚ observing English pronunciation rules (combinations with normal Japanese orthography are omi ed):
. This consonant doubling is found in a number of western languages as well‚ such as in Italian‚ where words like ‘tu i’ have a wri en double consonant while in terms of pronunciation there is simply a pause before the consonant. In Japanese‚ because there are no actual ‘loose’ consonants‚ the doubling is represented by a special character: a つ (or ツ) wri en either half height (in horizontal writing) or half width (in vertical writing) to indicate the pause.
1.

2 Punctuation and writing
Of course‚ in addition to a “le er” script‚ there is interpunction — symbols that indicate pauses‚ stops‚ quotes and other such things.The syntax — § 1.2 Writing spoken japanese
a ch d f j q s sh sw t v (1) w x y z e チェ ファ フェ ジェ クェ シェ スェ ヴェ ウェ ックセ イェ ディ フィ ドゥ フォ フィオ クァ クィ セィ スィ ティ ヴィ ウィ ックセィ イ ゼィ クォ ク i o u
13
スァ ヴァ ックサ
スォ ヴォ ウォ ックソ
スゥ トゥ ヴ ウ ックス
Note that ‘wo’ is not ヲ (as that is pronounced お)‚ and that for the ‘x’ series‚ the leading ッ is the consonant doubling symbol.2. In Japanese‚ the following punctuation symbols are common:
. In addition to these‚ there are also a number of consonants which‚ in terms of pronunciation‚ already have Japanese counterparts:
consonant c‚ pronounced as ‘s’ c‚ pronounced as ‘k’ l v (2)
column uses the さ—column uses the か—column uses the ら—column uses the ば—column. For instance‚ Brussels is wri en as ブリュッセル‚ “buryusseru”‚ rather than ブラセルズ‚ “buraseruzu”‚ and English (the people) is wri en as イギリ ス‚ “igirisu”‚ rather than イングリッシュ‚ “ingurisshu”. Preferred to ‘v (1)’ in the above table.
Due to the fact that most loan words have come from some speciﬁc language‚ many of which are not English‚ Japanese loan words may have a diﬀerent wri en form than expected.
1.

Similarly‚ the symbol ! is wri en the same way as in English‚ but typically exclamations are simply avoided. In vertical writing‚ the dots and lining is placed on the right side of text. In addition to knowing the basics about which symbols can be used‚ Japanese (as well as some other Asian languages such as Chinese) has the unique problem of deciding in which direction to write. This practice has pre y much disappeared except
. For all its modernising‚ some things such as writing remain unchanged. As such‚ for the most part printed Japanese (as well as handwri en material) is wri en top down‚ right to left. In contrast‚ most Japanese material on the internet is typically wri en in a western fashion‚ with the text running left to right‚ top to bo om.14
symbol
The syntax — § 1. Instead‚ emphasis particles such as よ or わ may be used for eﬀect‚ but these do not signify real exclamation. In horizontal writing‚ words will have dots over each syllable or kanji‚ or a line over the entire emphasised section. To make ma ers more interesting‚ in recent history‚ Japanese could also be wri en horizontally right-to-left.2 Writing spoken japanese
full stop 。 comma 、 single quotes 「 and 」 double quotes 『 and 』 parentheses （ and ） kanji repeater 々 separators ・ and ＝ drawn sound ∼ ellipsis … (usually wri en twice: ……)
Less used‚ but always good to have seen are the following:
symbol idem dito hiragana repeaters katakana repeaters kanji sentence ﬁnaliser 〃 ゝ‚ ゞ ヽ‚ ヾ 〆
And then there are western punctuations which have Japanese counterparts‚ but tend to be expressed diﬀerently instead: The symbol ? is wri en the same way as in English‚ but typically the particle か is used instead. This particle か serves both as question mark‚ as well as a marker for parts of a sentences‚ indicating they are questioning instead of stating. Finally‚ not quite interpunction but important nonetheless are the two ways to emphasise parts of wri en language in the same way we use bold or underlining in western composition: do ing and lining.

The syntax — § 1. You will not encounter full texts wri en in this way in modern or even just post-Meiji older Japanese.3 Kanji
15
in shipping (ship names may still be wri en in this way) and for ‘older style’ shop signs. ⁀ and ‿ to the right of characters to the right of characters vertical ( ︴‚︱) vertical (⋮)
1. ( and ) above characters above characters horizontal (〰‚ ―) horizontal (…)
vertical half-width‚ right aligned upper-right: [、]‚ [。] corner in the upper right (﹁) corner in the lower left (﹂) above and below: i. The prestigious rank of scribe became a hereditary rank‚ and so as generations of scribes came and went‚ the Chinese that was used slowly drifted away from proper Chinese‚ and more towards a hybrid style of Chinese and the form of Japanese as it was used at the time.e. To look at why this is‚ a brief history of how modern Japanese got the kanji that are used today is in order. There are a few diﬀerences between horizontal and vertical writing‚ most notably in terms of where to place half size characters and interpunction:
horizontal half size characters full stop‚ comma opening quotes closing quotes parentheses do ing lining drawn sound‚ hyphen ellipsis half-height lower left: [、]‚ [。] corner in the upper left (「) corner in the lower right (」) left and right: i. Without a wri en form‚ indeed seemingly without having discovered writing at all‚ the ﬁrst instances of writing in Japan were in fact not Japanese at all‚ but Chinese: after having come into contact with the Chinese and their intricate writing system‚ writing in early Japan (circa the late sixth century) was restricted to immigrant scribes‚ who wrote oﬃcial records in classical Chinese.e. While initially a rarity‚ the Taika reform of the mid-seventh century changed all that. Early Japanese evolved as a purely spoken language. One of the biggest problems with kanji is that there aren’t just many‚ but each one can have a multitude of pronunciations dependent on which words the kanji is being used for.3 Kanji
One of wri en Japanese’s most well-known features is that it comprises three writing systems: the two kana scripts‚ and a third script called kanji‚ translating as “Chinese characters”‚ which are ideographs that over the course of history made their way from China to Japan. Reforming Japan to a more Chinese inspired state‚ based on centralisation of government and Confucian philosophy‚ the need for a state clergy transformed the largely illiterate Japanese society to one with literacy as an essential part of court and intellectual life. However‚ the readings used for Chinese characters were more or less ﬁxed‚ and the readings that survive from that period are
.

3 Kanji
known today as 呉音‚ go’on‚ readings. Then‚ in the seventh and eighth century‚ during the Chinese Tang dynasty‚ there was another cultural exchange between Japan and China‚ leading to a second inﬂux of readings for Chinese characters. However‚ this name does not refer to the Wu dynasty (which spans the ﬁrst two centuries a.d. As China changed rulers‚ so too did the dominant dialect for the Chinese language‚ and the readings that were brought back to Japan from this second exchange were in some cases radically diﬀerent from the initial readings the Japanese had become familiar with.) but simply to the region the readings are believed to have come from (呉 being the name of the Wu region in Jiangnan‚ 江南‚ in modern China). This inﬂux came from two fronts: ﬁrstly‚ the merchants doing business with the Chinese brought back
とうおん
home readings that are referred to as 唐音‚ tō’on‚ and secondly from Zen monks who went to study Zen Buddhism in China and brought back readings that are referred
そうおん
to as 宋音‚ sō’on. In addition to these changes to Chinese readings‚ the wri en language itself slowly moved away from Chinese proper‚ through a Chinese-Japanese hybrid wri en language‚ to what is essentially the Japanese we know today: mixed Chinese characters with syllabic script (itself derived from Chinese characters being used phonetically) with diﬀerent readings for Chinese characters typically indicating diﬀerent interpretations of the characters used. This eventually led to native Japanese pronunciation being applied to wri en Chinese‚ giving us two
.16
ごおん
The syntax — § 1. 呉音 readings are known as “wu” readings. Rather‚ 唐音 derive their readings from Chinese as it was used during the Sung dynasty and onward. Rather than a single exchange‚ this was an ongoing eﬀort‚ and so 唐 音 readings tend to span from the late thirteenth century to well into the Edo period
えどじだい とくがわじだい
(江戸時代‚ edojidai)‚ also known as the Tokugawa period (徳川時代‚ tokugawajidai)‚
とくがわ いへやす
named after the ﬁrst Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康)‚ which lasted until the late nineteenth century. Finally‚ in the fourteenth century‚ during the most famous of Chinese dynasties — the Ming Dynasty — there was another inﬂux of Chinese. The naming for these readings‚ however‚ can be slightly confusing. The 唐音 readings‚ equally confusing‚ are referred to as Tang readings‚ even though this name would be more appropriate for the 漢音 readings‚ which actually derive from Tang Chinese. Readings for kanji from this
かんおん
period are known as 漢音‚ kan’on‚ readings. While there had been no wri en language before the introduction of Chinese‚ there had certainly been a language‚ which survived throughout the ages by virtue of the commoners not needing to bother with writing‚ and thus not incorporating Chinese into their language as much as royals and oﬃcials would. The 漢音 readings are called “han” readings‚ but have essentially nothing to do with the Han Dynasty‚ which spanned the late third century BCE.

The syntax — § 1.a language in which a large number of distinct words will share the same pronunciation. The word “hai” can mean either ‘yes’‚ ‘actor’‚ ‘ash’‚ ‘lung’ or ‘disposition’‚ and that doesn’t even cover all possible words that are pronounced similarly: without the use of kanji‚ it would be incredibly hard to decipher wri en Japanese. It is easy to see that this means that for any single syllable word you can think of‚ there will be (on average) at least three other words that you can write in exactly the same way. The word “fumi” can mean either ‘a wri en le er’‚ or ‘distaste’. Of course‚ one can argue that spoken Japanese doesn’t rely on kanji‚ so it must be possible to do away with them in the wri en language too‚ but this ignores the fact that just because a simpliﬁcation can be made‚ it might make things harder in other respects. There are no rules that state that certain kanji are read in a particular way when used on their own‚ or when part of a word‚ and so the only real way to make sure you are using the right reading for a kanji is to look it up and then remember the reading for the context the kanji was used in.3 Kanji
おんよ
17
diﬀerent reading “systems”: the 音読み‚ “on’yomi”‚ which are the Chinese derived
くんよ
readings‚ and the 訓読み‚ “kun’yomi”‚ which are the native Japanese derived readings. How do you know which is meant if you don’t use kanji or additional notes? For two syllable words‚ we see the same thing. The Japanese abstracted syllabic scripts from Chinese for phonetic writing‚ so why the continued reliance on kanji? While it seems odd that Chinese characters are still being used in a language that also has a phonetic script‚ the main reason it still uses Chinese characters is because of a key aspect of the Japanese language: it is homophonic. In Japanese we see quite the opposite: there are only 71 distinct single syllable sounds‚ but there are close to 300 words which can be wri en using a single syllable. A major problem with kanji is that without a knowledge of the kanji in question‚ it is not always clear when to use which reading. For instance‚ there are no capital le ers‚ spaces‚ full stops‚ or all those other syntactic additions in spoken Western languages either‚ and yet we still keep those in for ease of reading. there are a bit over 2000 combinations possible when using two syllables (not all combinations of two syllables are actually used in Japanese) but there are over 4000 words with a two syllable pronunciation. While there are a number of words that sound the same but mean diﬀerent things‚ the vast majority of words in the English language only mean one thing. For instance‚ a word pronounced “hare” can refer either to ‘fair weather’‚ or a ‘boil/swelling’. Similarly‚ the use of kanji has clear beneﬁts to Japanese as a wri en language: they act as word boundary indicators‚ allow readers to get the gist
. That means that on average‚ for every two syllables you write‚ you can be referring to one of two words. This usually leads to the question of why kanji are still being used‚ when other languages only use phonetic scripts. Because of this‚ Japanese is known as a “homophonic” language . Words in the English language‚ for instance‚ are essentially distinct. Even with three and four syllables‚ the problem persists‚ with a greater number of words available than there are possible readings.

18
The syntax — § 1. Pictographs (象形文字‚ shoukeimoji) — Hieroglyphic characters that look like what they mean (numbers 一‚ 二‚ 三‚ or 山 for ‘mountain’)
えもじ
2. Ideographs (絵文字‚ emoji) — Characters that represent things in some visual way‚ divided into two subclasses:
しじもじ
(a) Simple ideographs (指事文字‚ shijimoji)‚ such as 上 and 下 (for ‘above’ and ‘below’ respectively)‚ and
.3.
1. This still sounds like a lot‚ but given that the average English speaker knows around 12‚000 words‚ with academics knowing on average anywhere up to 17‚000 words‚ having to know 2000 kanji in order to understand the vast majority of your wri en language isn’t actually that much. In this classical Japanese‚ a word wri en as ‘sau’ would be pronounced as a long ‘so’‚ and something like ‘kefu’ would instead be pronounced as a long ‘kyo’.1 Types of Kanji
One of the things that one notices after having looked at kanji for a while is that a great number of kanji use a great number of simpler kanji as their building blocks. Traditionally‚ kanji are organised in four classes‚ and two categories‚ following the convention that was introduced in the very ﬁrst comprehensive Chinese character dictionary‚ at the beginning of the Western calendar’s second century.3 Kanji
of a text by quickly glossing over them‚ and solve the problem of needing to apply contextual disambiguation all the time like one has to in spoken Japanese. Similar to how kana syllables can be combined to form words‚ kanji have throughout history been combined to form more complex kanji‚ and complicated kanji have been reduced to combinations of simple kanji for the sake of remembering them‚ as well as organising them. When‚ after the second world war‚ the Japanese ministry of education reformed the wri en language‚ they didn’t just get rid of this discrepancy between wri en and spoken Japanese‚ they also got rid of some 7000 kanji‚ restricting the number of kanji to be used in daily life to around 3500‚ and designating a set of less than 2000 kanji as part
とうよう
of general education (initially known as the 当用‚ ‘touyou’‚ kanji‚ and after reﬁnement
じょうよう
to the set in 1981‚ became known as the 常用 ‚ ‘jouyou’‚ kanji). At the turn of the 20th century‚ wri en Japanese was as complicated as wri en Chinese in terms of kanji use‚ and even more complicated as a wri en language on its own‚ because kana did not reﬂect pronunciation. The four classes relate to the way in which characters are composed:
しょうけいもじ
1. However‚ just because they are useful‚ there have been “improvements” in terms of their use in wri en Japanese.

The two categories are related to how characters are actually used:
てんちゅうもじ
1.
かしゃもじ
2. An example of this is the character 楽‚ which can mean “music” when pronounced as “gaku”‚ but mean “comfort” or “enjoyment” when pronounced as “raku”.3 Kanji
かいいもじ
19
(b) Compound ideographs (会意文字‚ kaiimoji)‚ such as 休‚ ‘rest’‚ consisting of the compounds 人‚ ‘person’‚ next to 木‚ ‘tree’)
けいせいもじ
3. Derivatives (転注文字‚ tenchuumoji) — These are characters of which the meanings are derivations‚ or extensions‚ of the character’s original meaning.
1. Because kanji are mostly composed of smaller kanji‚ there is a uniform way of writing that allows people to remember kanji as combinations of simpler kanji‚ rather than as combinations of strokes that only once ﬁnished‚ form a kanji. There are a limited number of strokes that are used for drawing kanji. Form/Reading combinations (形声文字‚ keiseimoji) — These characters combine two kanji into a single character‚ with one of the two indicating a root meaning‚ and the other indicating (at least one of) the reading(s) for the character.The syntax — § 1.3. Phonetic loans (仮借文字‚ kashamoji) — These are characters which are used purely phonetically‚ ignoring their original meaning‚ or characters that are consistently used “wrongly”.2 Writing Kanji
Writing kanji follows relatively strict rules.
straight strokes
stroke 一 ㇀ 丶 drawing order left to right starting at the lower left called a “tick mark”‚ starting upper left examples 二‚ 三 冫 冫‚ 丸‚ 犬
. This class includes those kanji that had to be made up “on the spot” in order to accommodate words and concepts imported into Japanese from foreign languages for which no pre-existing kanji form was available. To make ma ers even more interesting‚ there are also characters which fall in either the third or fourth class‚ but for which certain meanings have become tied to certain readings.

20
stroke ㇏乀 丿 丨 亅 ㇁ ㇂ drawing order
The syntax — § 1. For instance‚ 乴 is wri en as ﬁrst 折‚ which in turn is ﬁrst 扌‚ then 斤‚ and then 乙 is placed underneath. When strokes intersect‚ the following rules apply: (a) For a vertical/horizontal intersection where the vertical stroke does not protrude at the bo om‚ such as in 王‚ draw the top horizontal ﬁrst‚ then the vertical (forming 丅)‚ then the rest. Strokes that do not intersect each other‚ follow each other in a top to bo om‚ left to right fashion. Kanji used to form more complex kanji also follow this rule.3 Kanji
examples 乂‚ 又 乂 十 了‚ 小 犭 弌‚ 戈
starting at the top starting at the top starting at the top starting at the top‚ with a serif to the left at the end starting upper left‚ and then pulling back at the end starting at the top‚ with an upward serif at the end
angled strokes
stroke ㇄ ㇅ ㇇ ㇆ 𠃍 乚 乁 drawing order top to bo om‚ then left to right‚ as one stroke left to right‚ then top to bo om‚ then left to right left to right‚ then a hook curving down left left to right‚ then top to bo om with a serif to the upper left left to right‚ then top to bo om top to bo om‚ then left to right with a serif upward at the end top left to right‚ then down right with an upward serif at the end examples 兦‚ 山 凹 水 刀‚ 方 囗 礼 虱‚丮
multi-angled strokes
stroke ㇉ ㇈ ㇋ ㇌ drawing order top to bo om‚ then the same as ㇆ top left to right‚ then the same as 乚 top left to right‚ top to bo om‚ then the same as ㇇ a connected stroke consisting of ㇇ and ㇁ examples 丂 九 乃‚ 廴 阝
Composition
Several compositional rules apply when a kanji consists of more than one stroke: 1.
. 3. 2.

These words might only be given two phonetic guide texts throughout the writing: a ﬁrst time with the ‘proper’ pronunciation‚ and a second time with the pronunciation ‘are’ instead — a pronoun with the contextual meaning “whatever I wrote last time”.The syntax — § 1. Because of this‚ Japanese has a unique aspect to its wri en language: furigana. You have seen several examples of furigana already in this book‚ where whenever a Japanese term was used involving kanji‚ its pronunciation was wri en above it in small le ering. While comic eﬀect is perhaps an added bonus to using furigana‚ it is certainly widely used for stylistic eﬀect. 4. For instance‚ when a text has the word 行った in it‚ then it’s clear how to pronounce the hiragana part‚ “ a”‚ but whether the kanji 行 should be pronounced as ‘i’ or as ‘okona’ is not clear. The context will help‚ but sometimes for verbs‚ and often for nouns‚ that’s not enough to ﬁgure out how to pronounce a kanji. For instance‚ while the word 首刀 does not exist in Japanese‚ the kanji mean “neck” and “sword” respectively.3 Reading kanji: furigana
One problem with kanji is that there is no “built-in” way to tell which pronunciation of a kanji is being used. This is not something particular to this book‚ but a common occurence in Japanese wri en material‚ used most often to help the reader disambiguate or pronounce “hard” words‚ but also for stylistic or even comic eﬀect. 5.
ふ がな
Furigana‚ 振り仮名‚ literally means “sprinkled kana”‚ and refers to phonetic guide text wri en over or alongside kanji to indicate the speciﬁc reading a reader should use.3. A Fantasy novelist could use this “made up” word‚ and add a phonetic text to note that it should be pronounced
. Semi enclosures‚ such as around 入 in 込 or around 聿 in 建‚ are wri en last‚ after the semi-enclosed component. (d) Strokes that intersect complete shapes‚ such as the vertical in 中 or the horizontal in 母‚ are wri en last. (c) For 乂 crossed strokes such as in 文 or 父‚ the stroke that runs upper-right to lower-left is drawn ﬁrst. There are a few exceptions to these rules (of course)‚ so when learning kanji‚ one should always have some reference on how to draw kanji. As an illustration of comic eﬀect‚ one might consider the case of long words that are used with some frequency in a text. Box enclosures‚ such as in 国‚ are wri en left｜ﬁrst‚ then followed up with ㇆ to form 冂‚ then have their content drawn‚ and are then closed at the bo om with 一.3 Kanji
21
(b) For a vertical/horizontal intersection where the vertical stroke does protrude at the bo om‚ such as in 十‚ 牛 or 年‚ draw all horizontals ﬁrst‚ and ﬁnally the vertical.
1.

If we combine the noun 気‚ “ki”‚ meaning ‘spirit’‚ or ‘a ention’‚ with the verb 付く‚ “tsuku”‚ to form the compound verb 気付く‚ then its pronunciation is not “kitsuku”.5 Looking up kanji
If we wanted to look up kanji like 枚‚ 梓 and 檥‚ then one very obvious feature we see is that all three seem to share a similar structure: 木 to the left‚ and something else to the right. This “being able to express both what is being thought and what is being said at the same time” is something that is impossible without this particular feature of wri en Japanese.3.
. However‚ this is not the real pronunciation of 奴‚ which is normally pronounced “yatsu”‚ and doesn’t just mean “person”‚ but is a derogatory version of the word instead. In fact‚ the second compound voices‚ leading to the pronunciation being “kidzuku” (or according to modern spelling‚ “kizuku”). In this sentence‚ the kanji 奴 is used with the phonetic guide text “hito”‚ meaning “person”. Another‚ even wider used application of furigana is the kind employed in
ひと きら
sentences such as あの奴が嫌い‚ “I dislike that person”.3 Kanji
as エクサキューシオン ・ソード‚ “ekusakyuushion soodo”‚ a transliteration of the English words “execution sword” into Japanese. Why this voicing occurs is‚ sadly‚ completely and entirely unknown. The best advice here is simply: “learn compound words as complete words”.22
The syntax — § 1. While this doesn’t make 首刀 a real word‚ it does allow a writer to paint with words .
1. There are no rules that say when compound words are “supposed” to voice‚ nor are there any rules we can abstract from all the words that do — any rule that seems to explain half of all voicings that occur in Japanese‚ seems not to apply to the other half. The bit of kanji that is shared by several (or in some cases lots of) kanji is called a “radical”‚ and can be used to look up a kanji if you have no idea what it means or even how to pronounce it. This is best illustrated with an example.
1. This is not a coincidence: most kanji can be described as some bit that is used by a number of other kanji‚ plus a unique part that identiﬁes that particular kanji.3.4 Reading quirks: compound words
As mentioned in the section on kana pronunciations‚ there’s an odd quirk involving the pronunciation of compounds words. In essence‚ while the reading reﬂects what the speaker is saying‚ the kanji form of the word expresses what the speaker is actually thinking. Even though they can be analysed as compounds‚ their meaning is typically diﬀerent from what the compounds individually mean‚ so learning them as combinations of loose‚ smaller words‚ makes very li le sense anyway.using the kanji as “pictures” to instil a sense of meaning‚ and adding an explicit pronunciation so that the sentence can be pronounced as well as wri en.

Current indices list around 400 shapes as radicals‚ compared to the original 214‚ mostly due to many shapes being considered “variations” of the classic radicals these days. Observing the “proper” writing style
. For instance: while originally only 己 was considered a radical (radical number 49‚ in fact)‚ Chinese characters have changed over the course of centuries so that now the shapes 已 and 巳 are also used‚ and are considered variations of the original 己. While this scheme was thought up almost two millennia ago‚ amazingly this method of organising kanji has not been fundamentally altered ever since: while wri en Chinese‚ and later Japanese‚ changed over the centuries‚ the only thing that has really changed is the number of indexing radicals. Kanji that use any of these three shapes may thus be found grouped together. Or that ⺾ in kanji such as 草 is actually the radical form of the kanji 艸.3. There are a few diﬀerent variants of this form‚ of
みんちょう
which the Minchou‚ 明朝 ‚ and gothic‚ ゴシック‚ variants are the most common. The Minchou variant is characterised by ﬁne lines and serifs (the font that was used for the Japanese in this book is a Minchou variant of the kaisho style‚ for instance)‚ while the gothic variant is characterised by thick‚ clear lining without any serifs.The syntax — § 1. the top stroke has disappeared. This variant is often used for signs and pamphlets‚ as well as a visually oﬀset style contrasted to Mincho (performing the same role italic scripts do for most Western languages). The most drastic changes we see‚ however‚ are those where a radical is no longer readily recognisable as stemming from a particular kanji.6 Styles
There are several writing “styles” for Japanese‚ each associated with diﬀerent uses. These examples use the いろは poem as text‚ which can be considered a Japanese equivalent of an alphabet song‚ containing each basic syllable only once (although some are voiced). (a name that the Japanese copied to the best of their ability‚ calling
ぶしゅ
them bushu‚ 部首). To show the diﬀerence‚ let us look at two images using minchou and gothic versions of the kaisho typeface. However‚ some variations are more drastic‚ such as 手 becoming 扌. Textbooks‚ novels‚ newspapers‚ webpages‚ virtually all material intended for mass reading consumption uses this style.3 Kanji
23
The very ﬁrst Chinese character dictionary — the Shuōwén Jiězì (說文解字)‚ published in the year 121 — used 214 such characters as indexing shapes‚ calling them bùshǒu.
かいしょ
The most commonly used style by far is the kaisho‚ 楷書‚ style‚ or “print” style. Some variations on the traditional radicals are simple‚ such as 牛 changing ever so slightly to become 牜‚ the only real diﬀerence being that the lower horizontal stroke is slanted a li le. Probably the most confusing of all radicals are the radical forms of the kanji pair 邑 and 阜‚ which both turn into 阝‚ but on diﬀerent sides of kanji: 降 is indexed by 阜‚ while 部 is indexed by 邑!
1. For instance‚ if you didn’t know anything about kanji‚ you would be hard pressed to imagine that 犭 is actually considered the radical form of 犬.

However‚ a translation oﬀered by professor Ryuichi Abe in his 1999 work “The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse”‚ published by Columbia University Press‚ is as follows: Although its scent still lingers on — the form of a ﬂower has sca ered away. Wri en in Mincho and gothic styles‚ this poem looks like:
The いろは poem‚ in the 明朝 variant of 楷書 style
.24
The syntax — § 1. For whom will the glory — of this world remain unchanged? Arriving today at the yonder side — of the deep mountains of evanescent existence‚ we shall never allow ourselves to drift away — intoxicated‚ in the world of shallow dreams.3 Kanji
and reading top-down‚ right to left‚ this poem is wri en as follows:
酔
ひ も せ ず
ゑ
浅
き
さ
あ
今 日
け ふ ゆ
有 為
う ゐ
常
夢 見
め
越
じ
み
え て
こ
の
奥 山
く や ま お
な
ね
つ
我
が
世 誰
よ
わ
散
り ぬ る を
ち
色
ら む ぞ
は
ろ
い
匂
た れ
へ
ほ
に
ど
The いろは poem‚ with classical kana transcription
There are many translations possible‚ given the classical nature of the poem.

Gyousho is usually associated with handwriting: while we can all write letters the way they come rolling out of a printer‚ we have a special way of writing everything if we do it by hand‚ and in Japanese this is expressed through a slightly more ﬂowing form of kanji and kana‚ connecting strokes but‚ quite often‚ preserving most of the looks of a kanji.3 Kanji
25
The いろは poem‚ in the ゴシック variant of 楷書 style
In addition to the kaisho style‚ there are the two “cursive” styles called gyぎょうしょ そうしょ
ousho‚ 行書 ‚ and sousho‚ 草書‚ which are “simpliﬁed” forms of wri en Japanese. Illustrating this again using the いろは poem:
.The syntax — § 1. However‚ this does not make them simpler to read .far from it‚ the simpliﬁcations can make it much harder to tell certain kanji apart‚ or look up in a dictionary. Sousho‚ on the other hand‚ is the highly stylised simpliﬁcations associated with brush calligraphy — shapes are simpliﬁed according to reasonably rigid rules‚ but these simpliﬁcations look drastically diﬀerent from the original shape‚ and certain shapes are simpliﬁed in such a way that it is nearly impossible to tell one from another without having received some form of education in reading and writing brush calligraphy. The simpliﬁcation here refers to the fact that these two styles connect many strokes into single strokes‚ or in extreme cases‚ even simplify entire kanji to single strokes.

Reisho is associated with the style of carved kanji on woodblocks (explaining its ‘block style’ name)‚ and is still in use today for things such as traditional signs. These two styles are not just traditional but “ancient” styles‚ in that they are styles found used far back in Japanese history on oﬃcial records and seals (respectively). Illustrating these two styles using the いろは again:
.26
The syntax — § 1. Tensho is also still used in modern Japan‚ featuring most prominently in personal stamps — in Japan‚ you do not sign documents with a signature‚ but you put your personal stamp on the document. Everyone who has ever signed something has one of these‚ and you’ll probably know them from the distinctive red-ink kanji-in-a-circle or kanjiin-a-square signs on Chinese and Japanese paintings and brush works.3 Kanji
The いろは poem‚ in 行書 style
The いろは poem‚ in 草書 style
Lastly‚ there are two “traditional” styles that you only ﬁnd used in very speれいしょ てんしょ
ciﬁc applications: reisho‚ 隷書‚ “square style” or “block style”‚ and tensho‚ 篆書‚ “seal style”.

There are even reference works which don’t so much list the forms in a neatly ordered fashion‚ but show you diﬀerent interpretation that artists have of the gyousho and sousho forms of kanji‚ which makes them more “artbook” than reference book‚ even when they are invaluable resources to students of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. However‚ Japanese
.4 Words and word classes
27
The いろは poem‚ in 隷書 style
The いろは poem‚ in 篆書 style
Special dictionaries exist that list kanji in their diﬀerent forms.
1.The syntax — § 1. These come
さんたいじてん
in the form of santaijiten‚ 三体辞典‚ which list kaisho‚ gyousho and sousho forms
ごたいじてん
(“santai” meaning three forms)‚ and gotaijiten‚ 五体辞典‚ which list all ﬁve forms for a kanji (“gotai” meaning ﬁve forms).4 Words and word classes
With all this talk about le ering‚ one would almost forget that just le ers hardly get us anywhere if we don’t know any words to write with them.

in contrast‚ “eat” is a verb you can either use intransitively (“What are you doing?” . In English‚ words like “ﬂy” and “ﬂoat” are verbs for actions that are being performed‚ and we can make them negative or past tense: “not ﬂy”‚ “not ﬂoat”‚ “ﬂew” and “ﬂoated” respectively.4. There are also a number of verbs that can only be used transitively‚ but these are special verbs‚ typically called auxiliary verbs. Verbs also have a regularity: walk and ﬂoat are regular verbs in that they follow the same rules: past tense is “… + ed”‚ but “ﬂy” and “eat” are irregular: they do not become “ﬂyed” and “eated”‚ but “ﬂew” and “ate”. You may have heard the terms “noun” and “verb”‚ and you may even be familiar with terms like “prepositions” and “adverb”‚ but there are quite a number of these word types‚ and we’ll look at all of these in terms of whether or not Japanese uses them‚ and what they look like. This might sound like a rather big tumbling block‚ but there are many languages which do not have articles‚ and the people that use those languages can get the meaning across just ﬁne without them as we will see when we talk about context later in this chapter.28
The syntax — § 1. At the
. It’s not just that it uses a diﬀerent way to indicate the diﬀerence between for instance “a car” and “the car”: there are no simple words you can use to show this diﬀerence. They precede a word to tell you whether it’s an undetermined ‘something’ (by using “a” or “an”) or a speciﬁc ‘something’ (by using “the”). However‚ there is something funny about transitivity: some verbs‚ like “walk”‚ you can only use intransitively (we don’t say that we “walked the street”‚ for instance)‚ but many verbs can be used either intransitively or transitively‚ like “eat”. In English‚ “have” and “want” are examples of these. Without an additional “something”‚ these verbs do not have any meaning on their own: saying “I have. Finally‚ verbs can be transitive‚ or intransitive.
1.4 Words and word classes
doesn’t have quite the same words as most western languages have. Japanese‚ on the other hand‚ doesn’t have articles at all.1 Articles
This is a group of words that you rarely think about as real words: in English‚ “the”‚ “a” and “an” are articles.” is grammatically incorrect. The verb “walk”‚ for instance‚ is something that you just do.4.” or “I want.2 Verbs
Verbs are words that represent an action either taking place or being performed‚ and can be modiﬁed to show things like negatives or past tense. Similarly‚ words like “walk” and “eat” are verbs for actions that can be performed‚ and we can make them negative or past tense too: “not walk”‚ “not eat”‚ “walked” and “ate” respectively. In this use‚ you’re applying the verb’s action to something: “I throw the ball”‚ “I eat an apple”‚ “I ﬂy a plane” are all examples of this.
1. When you see this kind of construction in a sentence‚ we say that the verb is used “intransitively” .“I’m eating”) or transitively: “I eat an apple”. You walk.

The syntax — § 1. As such‚ while in English one cannot “walk the street”‚ in Japanese this is exactly what you’re doing.” or “I want that. These regular verbs fall into two categories‚ namely
ごだん
the “ﬁve grade” verbs called godan‚ 五段‚ and the “single grade” verbs‚ called ichiいちだん
dan‚ 一段.
1. 自動詞 on the other hand do not have a “verb object”. With respect to transitivity‚ Japanese verbs can be a li le problematic.” for the verbs to be used correctly. For instance‚ in English we can say “I understand the text”‚ and if we look at the sentence from a grammatical point of view we can say that ‘the text’ may be considered the verb object for the verb ‘understand’.4. However‚ in Japan the verb for
わ
understanding‚ 分かる‚ is a 自動詞 verb‚ and so even though you’re used to thinking of “understanding” as a transitive verb action‚ you suddenly have to get used to it being an intransitive verb action in Japanese.3 Nouns
Nouns are words that are used to name “somethings”‚ although those somethings don’t need to be things you can actually hold in your hand and look at: “car”‚ “New York”‚ “magniﬁcation” and “ambiguity” are all nouns‚ but while you can touch a car‚ or point at New York‚ it’s impossible to point at something and go “that is magniﬁcation” or “that is ambiguity”. Rather than being labelled intransitive or transitive‚ Japanese verbs are labelled as being
じどうし たどうし
自動詞 or 他動詞‚ literally “verb that works on its own” and “verb that works paired with something”. Japanese verbs are characterised by a high degree of regularity as‚ except for three verbs‚ all verbs are regular. These two categories inﬂect (take on diﬀerent tense‚ mood‚ etc) in the same way on almost all possible inﬂections‚ but of course diﬀer on some (otherwise there wouldn’t be two categories‚ but just one).4 Words and word classes
29
very least‚ you’d need to say something like “I have it. Quite often these two map to intransitive and transitive‚ respectively‚ but sometimes they don’t. A good rule of thumb is “if you can say it’s ‘something else’‚ it’s a noun”:
.) are intransitive in English‚ but are 他動詞 in Japanese: they can be used with an object to indicate what is being walked or run over‚ what is being ﬂown through‚ what’s being sailed in‚ etc. they operate on their own. For instance‚ traversal verbs (such as ‘walk’‚ ‘run’‚ ‘ﬂy’‚ ‘sail’‚ etc. Particularly at ﬁrst‚ this can be somewhat confusing‚ but like all foreign languages‚ exposure to frequently used verbs means you’ll quickly develop a sense of how to use them properly (even if you can’t remember the terms ‘intransitive’‚ ‘transitive’‚ 自動詞 and 他動詞!).

4 Pronouns
There is a special class of words called “pronouns” in English‚ which act as if they’re nouns‚ but are used to replace nouns in sentences.4 Words and word classes “This car is old.
1.30
The syntax — § 1.4.” “I like walking. As a last bit of noun related information‚ in Japanese (as in English‚ in fact) nouns do not inﬂect. They usually need verbs to indicate negative‚ past tense‚ and other such things: in English we can say “This is not a book” or “This was a book”‚ but the negative and past tense comes from inﬂections of the verb “be”‚ not the noun itself.” The ﬁrst sentence suddenly makes no sense at all anymore‚ while the second sentence is still perfectly ﬁne. The best known pronoun in the English language is the word “it”‚ but words like “this”‚ “that” as well as “you” or “we” are all examples of pronouns.”
These are all examples where the noun is said to be something else (and that something else is known as an “adjective”). Rather than constantly referring directly to what we’re talking about‚ it is far more natural to use pronouns instead:
.” “The magniﬁcation is high. This even works with things that you might think are verbs‚ but actually aren’t: “walking” for instance looks like it’s a verb‚ because “walk” is a verb‚ but there are instances when “walking” is most deﬁnitely a noun.” “New York is hot.” “I like cheese.” We can verify that in the ﬁrst sentence we’re using a verb‚ and in the second a noun‚ by replacing “walking” with a word which we know is a noun‚ like “cheese”: “I went to work cheese.” “This ambiguity is omnipresent. This “words can belong to multiple classes‚ and which it is depends on how it’s used in a sentence” is something quite important to remember when dealing with Japanese‚ as well as learning foreign languages in general. Of the following two sentences‚ the ﬁrst uses “walking” as a verb‚ while the second uses “walking” as a noun: “I went to work walking.

In Japanese‚ pronouns are part of a class of words colloquially referred to as “kosoado”‚ こそあど‚ for the fact that they all start with either “ko-”‚ “so”‚ “a-” or “do-” depending on their level of proximity (for instance‚ ‘this’ vs. As such we can replace “the way in which the government is handling the issue of criminal law” with a simple pronoun if we wish to talk about it in later sentences: “The way in which the government is handling the issue of criminal law is questionable.
.” In this sentence‚ the pronoun “it” is used quite a number of times‚ replacing “the book” at every instance: “I bought a really good book. ‘what’).
1. It does not seem to be motivated by sound principles‚ but by back-oﬃce politics.4.” This sounds unnatural to English ears‚ even though grammatically speaking there is nothing wrong. In English‚ an example of this is the collection of words “the way in which”: “The way in which the government is handling the issue of criminal law is questionable.” In this sentence‚ “the way in which” is used to turn “the government is handling the issue of criminal law” into a single noun construction.” Japanese has quite a number of these nominalisers‚ each with its own meaning and nuance‚ and we shall look at these nominalisers in the chapter on language pa erns‚ too.5 Nominalisers
Japanese has an extra class pertaining to nouns‚ known as the nominalisers: words that‚ when used with other words or phrases‚ turn these words or phrases into something that can act as if the whole construction is a noun.The syntax — § 1.4 Words and word classes
31
“I bought a really good book. ‘that’) and whether they are stative or interrogative (‘that’ vs. I had already read the book‚ having borrowed the book from the library last month‚ but I saw the book in the book store on discount‚ so I decided to buy the book. I had already read it‚ having borrowed it from the library last month‚ but I saw it in the book store on discount‚ so I decided to buy it.

As an example‚ in the next two sentences the word “fast” is used as an adjective in the ﬁrst‚ but is used as a diﬀerent kind of word in the second sentence: “This is a fast car.” In Japanese‚ there are two types of adjectives‚ namely “verbal” adjectives and “nominal” adjectives‚ the diﬀerence being that the ﬁrst type can — unlike in English — be inﬂected without relying on a copula verb. The copula stays the way it is‚ but the adjective itself changes‚ something which trips up many beginning students of Japanese. When used to be speciﬁc about a verb‚ it’s called an adverb. “It was a square box” is the same in Japanese as it is in English‚ with “is” becoming “was”‚ and the adjective staying the way it is. In essence‚ in Japanese we get something akin to “The car is fast-in-past-tense”.32
The syntax — § 1. While in English it can sometimes be confusing as to whether a word is being used as an adjective or as an adverb‚ in
.” “This is a big‚ cold‚ square box. When used to be speciﬁc about a noun‚ a word is called an adjective.” “This is a square box.4.
1.4 Words and word classes
1.7 Adverbs
Using words to be speciﬁc about verbs and verb actions is called using them adverbially. In fact‚ in that sentence the word “adverbially” is an adverb‚ le ing us be speciﬁc about the way in which “using” is used.” “This is a big‚ square box. Words like “big”‚ “cold”‚ “square” can all be used as adjectives to be much more speciﬁc about‚ for instance‚ the noun “box”: “This is a box. The “noun” adjectives behave in the same way English adjectives do‚ needing a copula to change.” In the ﬁrst sentence‚ the word “fast” is used to be more speciﬁc about the noun “car”‚ but in the second sentence‚ the word “fast” is used to be more speciﬁc about the verb action “walk”. While they look like the same word‚ their use falls in diﬀerent word classes.4.6 Adjectives
As we saw in the section on nouns‚ any word that can be used to be “more speciﬁc” about a noun is called an adjective. While we can use adjectives to be more speciﬁc about a noun‚ they cannot be used to be more speciﬁc about a verb.” “I walked quite fast. In English‚ we have to say “The car was fast”‚ but in Japanese this “was fast” does not use a copula verb such as ‘was’‚ but the adjective itself can convey this meaning.

Most particles are suﬃxes‚ so that when you use a particle to indicate for instance a contrast between two things‚ it gets added after the ﬁrst thing‚ rather than adding it in front like in English. Because of this‚ there is no way to mistake whether a word is used as adjective or adverb when you look at a sentence.
1.4. In addition to adjectives-turned-adverb‚ Japanese also has words that are only adverbs. In the same way that you can ask for two mugs of beer or two glasses of beer in English‚ you need to use the counter for “mugs” or “glasses” in Japanese.9 Preﬁxes
Some particles‚ as well as some common concept markers‚ are preﬁxes rather than sufﬁxes — they are placed in front of words belonging to certain word classes.
1. You have to order “two (units of) tea”‚ where the counter that you chose for your units makes the diﬀerence between whether you’re asking for two cups or tea‚ two bags of tea‚ or are accidentally asking for two sheets of tea.8 Particles
Japanese has an extra word class that isn’t found in most western languages: the particle class.4. English: While (X is the case)‚ (also Y). Words in this class fulﬁl a wide variety of roles: denoting grammar explicitly‚ adding emphasis‚ disambiguating‚ marking how parts of a sentence bear relation to each other‚ supplying reason‚ contradiction‚ logical arguments‚ you name it — there is probably a particle that can be used for it. Within this word class‚ there is an important subclass known as the counters. The most important of these are the quantiﬁers‚ which include things like “a lot”‚ “not so much” and “often”. However‚ while you can ask for “two teas” in an English establishment‚ this kind of request is impossible in Japanese. Like Chinese‚ but very much unlike most western languages‚ counting in Japanese requires not just a knowledge of numbers‚ but also of which particle to use in order to describe the category of things you are counting. A handful of special preﬁxes are used for things like marking words as honoriﬁc‚ performing “inherent” negation (an English example of which is “the house was windowless” rather than “the house had no windows”)‚ indicating repetitions (“rereading a book”) and acting as category marker for categories such as “new”‚ “big” or “most”‚ as well as
. Japanese: (X is the case) while‚ (also Y).4 Words and word classes
33
Japanese this overlap does not exist: both verbal and nominal adjectives are modiﬁed (in diﬀerent ways) so that they can be used as adverbs instead.The syntax — § 1.

While in English (and in most other western languages) using these words is considered a sign of a poor grasp of the language (after all‚ why use a word like “gloopy” when you can call something a “liquid‚ but viscous‚ unpleasant gel”)‚ and mainly associated with “children’s language”‚ in Japanese using onomatopoeia is essential to natural sounding language: with thousands of these words available to choose from‚ each with its own connotations and implications‚ picking the right onomatopoeia or mimesis at the right time is something that demonstrates a high level of competency in the language. Rare in English‚ an example of this would be the word “gloopy” when describing something. For instance‚ “The heavy rock splooshed into the lake” is an example of an onomatopoeic verb.“to make”) are words that are used to reﬂect the sounds that things make. Quite a mouthful‚ onomatopoeia (from the Greek onomato-‚ “name”‚ and poi. Calling something “gloopy” doesn’t tell you something objective about it‚ but you can surmise it’s probably of a viscous liquid gel-like consistency‚ as well as unpleasant to the touch.4 Words and word classes
some more exotic categories such as extents or limits. These will be discussed in detail in the chapter on particles‚ in the section on preﬁxes. It doesn’t tell us what the rock actually did — namely‚ fall into the water — but implies it by virtue of the sound we know a rock falling in water makes: “sploosh”.
1. In addition to such “sound” words‚ there are also “state” words‚ which do not indicate a particular sound‚ but indicate a particular property.34
The syntax — § 1.
.10 Onomatopoeia and mimesis
Two ﬁnal word classes which are important to know when dealing with Japanese are the onomatopoeia‚ and the mimesis.4. For instance‚ in relation to a leaking tap‚ a Japanese person might say “the water was dripping out”‚ picking one speciﬁc word from among a great number of possible onomatopoeia to indicate whether the dripping was intermi ent or continuous‚ whether the drips were light or heavy‚ whether their impact in the sink was almost silent or accompanied by backsplash noises‚ each of these qualities being represented by a diﬀerent onomatopoeic word. Because of this‚ onomatopoeia and mimesis are an unoﬃcial yardstick when it comes to learning Japanese: if you can use the right onomatopoeic expression at the right time‚ you have mastered a crucial element to speaking natural sounding Japanese.
ぎおんご
Onomatopoeia‚ called 擬音語 (‘giongo’‚ in which the ‘gi’ part means ‘to mimic’‚
ぎたいご
the ‘on’ part means ‘sound’‚ and the ‘go’ part means ‘word’) and mimesis‚ called 擬態語 (‘gitaigo’‚ in which ‘tai’ means condition or state)‚ are some of the hardest words to learn‚ as they usually carry very speciﬁc nuances in meaning.

A combination of the nouns “tea” and “pot”‚ this would have to be a pot for tea. A common English compound word is the word “teapot”‚ for instance. However‚ it’s not really a pot‚ it’s more a decanter.4.The syntax — § 1.5 Sentence structure
In addition to knowing which word classes are used in a language‚ we can also look at languages in terms of how sentences are structured. So‚ the single compound noun “teapot” has more meaning than if you looked at the meaning of just the two nouns it was built from. This practice‚ called compounding‚ is something that some languages have a knack for‚ and some languages simply do not bother with. There are also VSO languages‚ such as formal Arabic or Welsh‚ where the sentence structure is predominantly “do‚ we‚ something” and VOS languages‚ such as Malagasi (used in Madagascar) and Fijian (used in Fiji) where the structure is predominantly “do something‚ we”.
. However‚ while this terminology allows us to broadly categorise languages‚ based on what the ‘typically used’ pa ern looks like‚ it doesn’t tell us anything about how correct or incorrect sentences are if they do not adhere to these S/V/O “rules”. In Japanese‚ nouns are not the only compound words available — compound adjectives as well as compound verbs are also quite common. The most simplistic categorisation of languages in this respect is by looking at the “Subject‚ Object and Verb” ordering.
1. Japanese‚ in contrast‚ follows a diﬀerent ordering: most sentences are of the form “we‚ something do” (with the comma added purely for ease of reading) where the subject precedes the object for the verb‚ after which the actual verb is used. English‚ for instance‚ is a language in which compound words are rare — although not unheard of.5 Sentence structure
35
1. For instance‚ while “we ate some cake” is a normal English sentence‚ a slightly less conventional but still grammatically perfectly valid English sentence could be “cake. it has to be boiled water infused with tea leaf.11 Compound words
This is technically not a word class‚ but a language feature: in some languages several words can be combined into single words with more meaning that just the individual parts. Similarly‚ the “tea” in question is never dry tea leaf‚ even though that’s also called “tea” in English. This categorisation looks at how languages order these three words classes‚ leading to the conclusions that English‚ for instance‚ is an SVO language‚ while Japanese is an SOV language: in English‚ most sentences are of the form “we do something”‚ where the subject (“we”) precedes the verb (“do”) which in turn precedes the object (“something”) for that verb. This “joining up two (or more) words to form new‚ single words” is one of the major dividing lines we can use when trying to classify languages: English is a language sparse in compound words‚ as are French‚ Spanish and Italian‚ but German‚ Danish‚ Dutch‚ Finnish‚ Polish‚ Hungarian‚ Arabian‚ and also Japanese‚ are languages in which compound words are frequently used.

” on its own‚ it is impossible to tell what we mean by it.5.
1. When we look at Japanese we see the S/V/O category crumbling even further. While in English grammar only becomes apparent through the positioning of words‚ in Japanese words are “tagged”‚ as it were‚ with their grammatical role. Trying to shorten a sentence further — without making the sentence context sensitive — yields broken English‚ which is arguably simply not English. However‚ if we were to use the sentence “four. In English‚ a minimal sentence (that is‚ one that isn’t considered an expression like “hi!” or “hmm”) consists of a subject and a verb: “I ate” or “she runs” are examples of minimal sentences. This is what makes Japanese hard: most of the time‚ in every day Japanese‚ subjects and objects will be omi ed left and right because‚ as a competent listener‚ you should know what they should have been — Japanese relies heavily on people’s ability to guess what someone else is talking about‚ something which can only come through regular exposure to‚ and use of‚ the language. This becomes particularly apparent when we look at what “minimal sentences” may look like in diﬀerent languages.5 Sentence structure
we ate some”.36
The syntax — § 1. This means that while English is an SVO language‚ it’s really an SV(O) language: you need an S‚ you need a V‚ and if you use an O‚ it comes last‚ but you’re not obliged to have one. To illustrate this‚ an example sentence:
きのう いぬ わたし はん た
昨日は犬が 私 のご飯を食べました。 kinou wa inu ga watashi no gohan o tabemashita. In 犬が‚ ‘inu ga’‚ the noun ‘inu’ (“dog”) is marked as verb actor‚ in 私の‚ ‘watashi no’‚ the noun ‘watashi’ (“I”/“me”) is made
.1 Word order
While it’s all well and good to know that minimal Japanese is an (S)(O)V language‚ it’s also important to know that in Japanese‚ grammar is put directly into the sentence through the use of particles. This sentence does not fall in the SVO category that is associated with English‚ but that doesn’t mean it’s an incorrect sentence — it just means the SVO label doesn’t tell the whole story. Rather than just being an SOV language‚ it’s actually an (S)(O)V language: You need a verb‚ but you don’t need a subject or object at all to form a correct minimal sentence in Japanese. This sentence is composed of several “blocks”: 昨日は‚ ‘kinou wa’‚ indicates the noun ‘kinou’ (“yesterday”) as context. While in English saying “ate” is considered not enough information to make sense of‚ Japanese is a language in which competent listeners or readers ﬁll in these blanks themselves‚ choosing which subject and object make the most sense‚ given what they know about the speaker. This notion of context is important: if we are asked “How many cookies are left?” and we answer with “four”‚ then this “four” is technically a sentence comprised of a single word‚ and sounds natural.

“Yesterday (a/my/our) dog ate.” 昨日は犬が食べました、私のご飯を。 kinou wa inu ga tabemashita‚ watashi no gohan o.” In English‚ there is very li le position variation possible in this sentence: “A dog ate my dinner‚ yesterday” is still okay‚ but rearranging the sentence to read “Yesterday‚ my dinner ate a dog” completely changes the meaning of the sentence from something unfortunate to something unse ling. “Ate‚ a dog (did)‚ my dinner‚ yesterday. In Japanese‚ the explicit presence of grammar markers in a sentence means that rearranging the “blocks” doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence at all: 昨日は私のご飯を犬が食べました。 kinou wa watashi no gohan o inu ga tabemashita. While some of these sentences will sound more usual than others‚ they all mean the same thing. “My dinner — yesterday — (a/my/our) dog ate. However‚ once we start moving the particles around‚ pairing them with words from diﬀerent blocks‚ the same problem arises as we saw for English: 昨日は(犬が)(私のご飯を)食べました。 kinou wa inu ga watashi no gohan o tabemashita “Yesterday‚ (a/my/our) dog ate my dinner.” All of these are perfectly valid sentences in Japanese‚ because all the words with meaning are explicitly tagged with the role they play in the sentence. “Yesterday: my dinner‚ (a/my/our) dog ate.”
. my dinner.The syntax — § 1.” 食べました、犬が、私のご飯を、昨日は。 tabemashita‚ inu ga‚ watashi no gohan o‚ kinou wa.5 Sentence structure
37
genitive (forming “my”) and linked to ご飯を‚ ‘gohan o’‚ the noun ‘gohan’ (“dinner”) marked as direct verb object‚ with the ﬁnal word ‘tabemashita’ being the past tense of the verb “eat”: “Yesterday‚ (a/my/our) dog ate my dinner.” 私のご飯を、昨日は、犬が食べました。 watashi no gohan o‚ kinou wa‚ inu ga tabemashita.

2 Emphasis
Another feature of languages is where emphasis lies in a sentence.38
The syntax — § 1. details‚ then point in Japanese) can lead to confusion when dealing with words in which this ordering is important‚ such as indicating simultaneous actions: in English‚ “while”. If someone asks “what are you doing?” and we answer with “eating some dinner while watching TV”‚ then the main activity is eating dinner.
1.”
In summary‚ it is not so much word order that inherently gives meaning to a sentence in Japanese‚ but the ‘semantic blocks’ of words‚ paired with speciﬁc particles.5. The previous sentence is a good example of this: the main point is that “important information comes early”‚ which is found earlier in the sentence than the additional information. Being unfamiliar with this diﬀerence in emphasis (point‚ then details in English vs. The “watching TV” is additional information‚ but not strictly speaking required for the answer to be complete. In English‚ we tend to put the most pressing bit of information early in the sentence‚ and then say whatever is further relevant to this information later in the sentence. Which blocks go where‚ ﬁnally‚ depends entirely on what you believe is the most important bit of the sentence‚ as is highlighted in the next section. A rather simple example is the following pair of sentences: “I fell oﬀ my bike while riding home today. While the English sentence is up front with the emphasis‚ namely that we fell oﬀ our bike‚ the Japanese sentence doesn’t actually tell you what happened until the very last word‚ ‘korondeshimaimashita’ — “(I) (regre ably/unfortunately) fell down”. Both
.”
きょう じてんしゃ かえ ちゅう ころ
今日は自転車で帰り 中 で転んでしまいました。 kyou wa jitensha de kaerichuu de korondeshimaimashita. Their combination tells you what the block means‚ and what role it plays in a sentence. As long as the pairings are preserved‚ you can order these blocks in any way you like and maintain the same sentence meaning.5 Sentence structure 昨日は(ご飯が)(私の犬を)食べました。 kinou wa gohan ga watashi no inu o tabemashita “Yesterday‚ (the) dinner ate my dog. In Japanese‚ things are the other way around: the more important the information is‚ the later it will be placed in a sentence. In Japanese‚ with the same core information and details used‚ the placement is opposite: the Japanese answer “terebi o minagara‚ gohan o tabemasu” lists “watching TV” ﬁrst (‘terebi o mi-’)‚ then adds the marker for simultaneous action (‘nagara’) and then concludes with “eating dinner” (‘gohan o tabemasu’).

uses syllable pitch to place accents in words. Quite often you will ﬁnd this explained as Japanese being a language with two pitch levels‚ high and low‚ which makes it relatively easy to learn compared to a more complicated language (in terms of pitch) such as Chinese‚ which has four pitch levels for Mandarin‚ and at least six for Cantonese. This becomes even more obvious in the shortened pa ern‚ “I would rather have X”. In Japanese‚ and other languages where more important information comes later in the sentence‚ leaving oﬀ the la er part of a sentence leaves a reader or listener with the details‚ but no knowledge of what these details actually apply to! While‚ of course‚ this doesn’t lead to problems for people who grew up using a language in which emphasis comes later in a sentence‚ this ‘feature’ can be a great pain for people who grew up with “important bits ﬁrst”. While potentially confusing at ﬁrst‚ this reversal of placement for emphasis becomes more intuitive the more one practises Japanese.6 Pitch and accents
39
in English and Japanese‚ the concise answer would simply have been “eating dinner”‚ or “gohan o tabemasu”. To them‚ it feels very much like the language is based on the concept of “ﬁlling in the blanks”‚ without any indication of what can be used to ﬁll them in. However‚ this creates the false impression that there are only two tones at which you should pronounce Japanese‚ which is simply not true.6 Pitch and accents
Linguistically speaking‚ Japanese . Another‚ more common example is the use of “rather”: “I would rather have X than Y” is a well known sentence pa ern in English‚ listing the thing with most preference ﬁrst.
1. However‚ having important information at the end of a sentence leads to a unique problem when interpreting or translating Japanese: how does one deal with trailing sentences? In English‚ when the la er part of a sentence is left oﬀ‚ the most important information has already been presented‚ so when the sentence is cut oﬀ we might be missing the details‚ but only the details.The syntax — § 1. In Japanese‚ the ‘rather’ construction uses the particle ‘yori’ and‚ like before‚ the order is quite opposite: Y yori X no hou ga ii to omoimasu Trying to project the way ‘rather’ works in English onto what ‘yori’ means can easily lead to confusion: the English word ‘rather’ assumes that the most important bit is on the left‚ so if we think ‘yori’ does the same — because we know it can be translated as ‘rather’ — we might mistakenly believe that this sentence says “I would rather have Y than X”‚ instead of what it really means‚ “I would rather have X than Y”. Sadly‚ this too can only be remedied through continued exposure to‚ in this case‚ Japanese‚ so that one becomes intuitively familiar with which words might be implied if they’re left oﬀ.like various other Asian languages such as Thai or Chinese . Instead‚
.

40
The syntax — § 1. Anger‚ lecturing‚ boredom‚ and a wide variety of emotions can be told from the pitch pa ern of a sentence‚ not unlike in most Western languages. 3. For sentences‚ too‚ pitch plays an important role. 4.7 Gender roles
accent through pitch in Japanese is best described in terms of tone diﬀerence: 1. A sentence ending with a high and then a low syllable‚ compared to the same sentence ending with the last two syllables in neutral pitch‚ will be experienced as a question rather than as a statement‚ for instance. 2. If a word has its accent on a syllable other than the ﬁrst or the last‚ the pitch may remain constant or rise gradually until the syllable after the one that is accented‚ where the pitch goes down suddenly to create the pitch diﬀerence that is considered an accent in Japanese.
1. The presence and order of pitch change can make the diﬀerence between rain (雨) and candy (飴)‚ both pronounced “ame” but with their accents on the ﬁrst and second syllable respectively‚ or more drastically between an umbrella (傘) and syphilis (瘡)‚ both pronounced “kasa” but again with their accents on the ﬁrst and second syllable respectively. If a word has its accent on the ﬁrst syllable‚ then the pitch of the word starts at a high tone and then drops in pitch at the second syllable. However‚ while in western languages pitch only adds emotion‚ in Japanese‚ a misplaced pitch may also change the meaning of the words being used. If a word has no accent‚ the pitch may remain constant or rise gradually. After this‚ the pitch may remain either constant‚ or (slowly) go down as the rest of the word is pronounced. While this is an understandable association‚ the problem with associating speech pa erns with genders is that people often mistakenly apply backward logic: if the female speech pa ern is reserved‚ then reserved speech is female speech. If a word has its accent on the last syllable‚ the pitch may remain constant or rise gradually until the last syllable‚ which is pronounced at a notably higher pitch‚ marking it as accented to the Japanese ear.7 Gender roles
Due to the diﬀerent formality levels in Japanese‚ a particular style of speech is often associated with a particular gender — the more polite and reserved speech being associated with female speech‚ and the more brash and forward plain speech being associated with male speech.
. Due to this relatively large diﬀerence between the ﬁrst and second syllable‚ the ﬁrst syllable is considered accented by the Japanese ear. This covers the majority of Japanese words and while the pitch may change‚ the lack of sudden discontinuous change makes this sound unaccented to the Japanese ear.

Rather than both “subject” and “context” being able to refer to some topic‚ the two mean wildly diﬀerent things. Typically‚ speech pa erns fall into categories such as polite reserved speech‚ plain informal speech or honoriﬁc speech‚ which are used by a particular gender more than the other by virtue of statistics. However‚ when the situation warrants it‚ there is nothing to prevent men from using reserved indirect speech‚ or women from using assertive direct speech.”
. However‚ this does not mean that what is considered “female speech” is never used by men‚ or what is considered “male speech” isn’t used by women‚ as there is no such thing as exclusively male or female speech.8 Context language
41
This isn’t how it works‚ though. It’s all about what the social se ing warrants. Very eﬀeminate men (such as transvestites or homosexuals) may very well use very eﬀeminate words‚ and hardcore business ball-busting career women may very well use very masculine words to demonstrate their dominance. It is important to notice that the labels used here are “eﬀeminate” and “masculine”‚ and not “female” and “male”.8 Context language
As mentioned in the section on sentence structure‚ Japanese is a context sensitive language‚ relying heavily on the reader or listener to be able to keep track of information during a conversation‚ and omi ing any information once it has become contextual.
1. A more accurate distinction is to consider speech pa erns as direct versus indirect or assertive versus reserved. A “subject”‚ on the other hand‚ refers to speciﬁc words in individual sentences within a text or conversation. This said‚ there are a few words (not speech pa erns) that are genuinely eﬀeminate or masculine‚ such as the eﬀeminate dubitative particle かしら‚ or the masculine
おれ
personal pronoun 俺. The best way to indicate the diﬀerence when we use the words “context” and “subject” from a grammatical perspective is as follows: “A sentence says something about a subject‚ within a certain context. Grammatically‚ the terms are much further apart. A “context” is the overall topic of some text or conversation.The syntax — § 1. Again‚ it’s all about the social se ing. Before we look at an example of this‚ we will look at how a “context” diﬀers from a “subject”‚ as this can cause some confusion: in our day-to-day experience of language‚ the words ‘context’ and ‘subject’ refer to the same thing. If a public speaker at some convention is talking about the physics of Star Trek‚ then we can say that “the subject of his talk is the physics of Star Trek”‚ or that his talk should be interpreted within the context of “the physics of Star Trek”‚ making the two refer to essentially the same idea — a topic. it doesn’t necessarily have to be mentioned‚ but it is clear what the text or conversation is all about. Women tend to be more reserved and use less direct speech‚ and men tend to be more assertive and use more direct speech.

42
The syntax — § 1. A: okashii wa. tsui sakki made mo etandesukedo.” A: “That’s odd.8 Context language
For instance‚ given that this section talks about “context”‚ the sentence “It can be a problematic ‘feature’ of Japanese for people who only know English” is readily interpreted as meaning “Context can be a problematic ‘feature’ of Japanese for people who only know English”. In Japanese‚ this concept of “sentences say things about subjects within a certain context” is taken further than in English. A: a… soukamoshiremasen‚ ne.” B: “Perhaps you left it on the table in the living room?” A: “Ah! That might be. This conversation can be translated to natural sounding English in the following manner: A: “You haven’t seen my cup‚ have you?” B: “No‚ I haven’t seen it. If we do a literal translation to English‚ we see a rather diﬀerent‚ context-heavy kind of conversation:
. Had this sentence been in a section on the sparsity of language‚ then you would have understood “it” to refer to “the sparsity of Japanese”. In Japanese‚ rather than using contextual words like this‚ they are simply omi ed entirely.” In this translation there are a number of contextual simpliﬁcations: “you” has been used to refer to a speciﬁc person‚ “it” has been used to contextually refer to the cup in question‚ and “that” has been used by speaker A to refer to what speaker B said. I just had it a moment ago. You know what “it” refers to because of the context you’re reading it in. B: ima no teeburu ni oitekiteshima a no dewanai deshou ka. The following conversation may illustrate this:
み
A: あたしのコップを見かけませんでしたか？
み
B: ああ、見てません。
いま お
も
A: おかしいわ。ついさっきまで持ってたんですけど。 B: 居間のテーブルに置いてきてしまったのではないでしょうか。 A: あっ……そうかもしれません、ね。 Transcribed‚ this reads: A: atashi no koppu o mikakemasen deshita ka? B: aa‚ mitemasen.

For this reason‚ some textbooks and courses will present Japanese sentences with all the contextual information in them — while this does not violate Japanese grammar‚ it does lead to highly artiﬁcial sentences‚ existing only in textbooks rather than reﬂecting the language as it is actually used. A: (That’s) odd.”
43
It’s not just “it” which has been omi ed‚ even personal pronouns are typically left out. For instance: A: okashii wa. (I) just had (it) (a) moment ago.” B: “Could be left on living room table?” A: “Ah! Might be so. tsui sakki made mo etandakedo.The syntax — § 1. Because of this‚ all the examples in this book will try to use “natural” Japanese phrases‚ with contextual words required for the sentence to make sense in translation added in parentheses. This makes for a seemingly very sparse language‚ which can be hard to interpret‚ especially when one is just starting out with the language. And with that‚ we are ﬁnally able to move on from introductory text to the language itself: let’s sink our teeth in some grammar!
.8 Context language A: “Haven’t seen my cup?” B: “Indeed‚ haven’t seen.” A: “Odd… had just a moment ago.

44
The syntax — § 1.8 Context language
.

We consider “walked” to consist of “walk” with “-ed” tacked on the end‚ and “passing” as being “pass” with “-ing” added to it. So‚ if you haven’t learned the hiragana script yet: now would be a good time to start!
2. Unlike English‚ where verb stems are already usable on their own — the verb stem of “walk” is “walk”‚ for instance — verb stems in Japanese require an inﬂection indicator in the form of okurigana‚ so before we move on to the actual rules of grammar concerning Japanese verbs and verbal adjectives‚ we must look at how verbs and verbal adjectives are composed in Japanese. Note that in this chapter‚ as well as all following chapters‚ Japanese will no longer be romanised.Chapter 2
Verb grammar
As mentioned in the introductory chapter on syntax‚ there are two classes of verbal words in Japanese: verbs‚ and verbal adjectives. For instance‚ the verb construction 待たされていました means “(I) 45
. However‚ many verb forms in English actually use helper verbs‚ so things like “will help”‚ “let’s dance”‚ “be able to dive” are considered verb chains‚ with the helper verb(s) indicating the tense‚ mood and aspect. Both of these can be considered to
ごかん
consist of two parts: a verbal stem‚ called the “gokan” (語幹)‚ which indicates what the core meaning of a verb or verbal adjective is‚ and some additional hiragana called
おく がな
“okurigana” (送り仮名)‚ which is used to indicate inﬂection. We will ﬁrst be deconstructing the verbs‚ after which we’ll deconstruct the verbal adjectives.1 Inﬂecting
In English‚ we are used to thinking of verb inﬂections in terms of ‘the verb’ plus some text that indicates the inﬂection. In Japanese‚ all verb inﬂections are in fact chains of helper verbs and verbal adjectives‚ but rather than being a long list of separated verbs like in English‚ they are added to the base verb one by one until all the tenses‚ moods and aspects have
ま
been dealt with.

This base form is used when forming the negative‚ passive‚ causative or ‘pseudo-future’ form of a verb. Then ﬁnally た‚ the terminal base for the helper verb for past tense‚ た.46
Verb grammar — § 2. Then we see され‚ the continuative base for the helper verb for causatives‚ される. Second‚ all the verbs are in some “base” form. We can see two things in this decomposition. There are ﬁve “base forms” which are used in combination with speciﬁc inﬂections‚ and knowing how to identify these base forms makes verbal grammar signiﬁcantly easier‚ because it lets us view complex verb conjugations in terms of a series of simple “base form” + “helper” rules. For the past tense progressive causative for instance‚ we see a huge inﬂection that’s really composed of four fairly simple rules‚ applied one after another:
inﬂection causative progressive polite past tense
rule imperfect base + される continuative base + ている continuative form + ます continuative form + た
example 待つ → 待た + される 待たされる → 待たされ + ている 待たされている → 待たされてい + ます 待たされています → 待たされていまし + た
All complex verb constructions can be described in this way‚ being a series of ﬁxed-order simple rules being applied. Then て‚ the continuative base for the helper verb for conjunction‚ つ. this is the crucial diﬀerence between Japanese verbal grammar and most other languages. What’s more‚ because the two diﬀerent verb classes in Japanese mostly diﬀer in what their base forms look like‚ inﬂecting verbs in Japanese is mostly a ma er of picking the right base form‚ and then applying the same rules for both verb classes‚ making most inﬂections the same for the two. This base form is a general purpose ‘intermediate form’ for a great number of inﬂections. Then まし‚ the continuative base for the helper verb for politeness‚ ます. Combined with て it forms the “-ている” form‚ which marks a verb as present progressive. Then い‚ the continuative base for the verb いる‚ “to be” for animate objects.
.1 Inﬂecting
had been made to wait”. While hard to tell without spaces or a knowledge of verbal grammar at this point‚ this is actually a series of six verbs chained together in a very speciﬁc way: First‚ we see (ま)た‚ the imperfect base form for 待つ‚ “wait”. First‚ the ‘core’ verb is all the way at the beginning‚ and the helper verbs follow each other in inﬂection order: ﬁrst the causative of “wait” is formed‚ then that is made a present progressive‚ this is then made polite‚ and then ﬁnally the whole construction is turned from present to past tense. Verbal adjectives also rely on this concept of “base form” + “helper”‚ and as will become apparent when looking at the rules of grammar for verbal words‚ some inﬂections are formed by adding verbal adjectives to verbs‚ while others are formed by adding verbs to verbal adjectives.

Verbs in Japanese are mostly regular (there are only a handful of verbs with irregularities)‚ and fall into
ごだん いちだん
one of two classes: “godan”‚ 五段‚ or ‘ﬁve grade’ verbs‚ and “ichidan”‚ 一段‚ or ‘single
. In modern Japanese‚ this role has been assumed by the 連体形 instead. Imperative constructions‚ such as commands and prohibitive commands.
かていけい
未然形
れんようけい
連用形
連用形
しゅうしけい
終止形
れんたいけい
no longer used 連体形 已然形 (仮定形)
連体形
いぜんけい
已然形
Perfect constructions.1 Inﬂecting
47
Without ge ing ahead of the material‚ let us ﬁrst examine which base forms are used by verbs and verbal adjectives‚ and what they look like for each of the verbal word classes. This traditional scheme is called 文語‚ literary style‚
こうご
and is associated with classical Japanese‚ while the modern scheme is called 口語‚ colloquial style‚ and is associated with normal modern Japanese. Because it is always a good idea to look at where a language has come from‚ in order to understand why it does what it does in its current form‚ the relation between classical and modern Japanese will be mentioned wherever possible.1 Inﬂection bases
Traditionally‚ there are six “base forms” for Japanese verbal words‚ of which ﬁve are
ぶんご
still used in modern Japanese. A ributive constructions (using verbs like adjectives)‚ and in modern Japanese‚ ﬁnalised form.
めいれいけい
命令形
命令形
The way these bases are formed for the two classes of verbs and the verbal adjectives is the major diﬀerence between these verbal classes.1. Finalising form. First‚ let’s look at which base forms are used in classical and modern Japanese:
文語
みぜんけい
口語 未然形
Base for… Imperfect constructions‚ such as negative form and ‘pseudo-future’‚ as well as passive‚ potential‚ honoriﬁc and causative forms. Continuative and conjunctive constructions‚ covering the majority of constructions involving helper verbs‚ as well as joining up sentences and forming nouns.
2.Verb grammar — § 2. In modern Japanese this form is only used for hypothetical constructions‚ which is why it’s colloquially known as the 仮定形‚ “assuming” form.

However‚ while it is useful to know on which syllables verbs and verbal adjectives can end‚ bear in mind that just because verbs end on う—row syllables and verbal adjectives end on い‚ not everything ending on an う—row syllable is a verb‚ and not everything ending on い is a verbal adjective — “all cats have four legs‚ but not everything with four legs is a cat”. the grammatical base form was the same as the ﬁnal inﬂected form. Both verb classes end‚ in their “dictionary” form‚ on one of the う—row syllables (although not ず‚ and consequently づ‚ and not ふ or ぷ)‚ so that any verb you may encounter can be found in a dictionary to end onう‚く‚ ぐ‚ す‚ つ‚ ぬ‚ ぶ‚ む or る (the “dictionary” form mentioned here is a common descriptor used in literature
れんたいけい
on Japanese‚ and is synonymous with the 連体形 form of verbs or verbal adjectives. The 五段 verbs (also referred to as “class I”‚ “type I” or “u verb” in literature) can end on any of the aforementioned syllables‚ but 一段 verbs (also referred to as “class II”‚ “type II” or “ru verbs” in literature) only end on る. Verbal adjectives — the class of adjectives in Japanese that inﬂect just like regular verbs do — only come in one class and always end on the syllable い‚ which is why they are also referred to in literature as “i-adjectives” (a second class of adjectives‚ the adjectival nouns‚ are commonly referred to as “na-adjectives”).48
Verb grammar — § 2. In classical Japanese‚ both interpretations of the 命令形 were “stem + よ”. Looking at them as a combination of verbal stem and some ﬁnal syllable(s)‚ the following table describes each of the bases for these word classes:
ごだん いちだん
Base
ごかん
五段 verbs
remove う—row syllable stem + あ—row syllable stem + い—row syllable stem + う—row syllable stem + え—row syllable stem + え—row syllable
一段 verbs
remove る stem stem stem + る stem + れ stem (+ ろ/よ *)
verbal adjectives remove い stem + く stem + く stem + い stem + けれ (stem + かれ *)
stem (語幹) 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形
In this table‚ the 命令形 for the 一段 verbs and verbal adjectives are starred‚ to indicate there’s something special about them.1 Inﬂecting
grade’ verbs. This raises the problem that either the 命令形 is listed as two separate forms — something I’m not too fond of — or listing it as just the stem‚ and then telling you the ﬁnal inﬂected forms are either 命令形 + ろ or 命令形 + よ depending on where you are. However‚ in modern Japanese the ﬁnal inﬂected form is
ひょうじゅんご
either “stem + ろ”‚ if you’re in an area that adheres to 標準語 ‚ ‘standard Japanese’ (the kind spoken in Tokyo)‚ or fairly uniformly “stem + よ”‚ if you’re not. First‚ the 一段 verb 命令形 is a bit of a problem: the word 命令形 can refer to either the grammatical base form‚ or to the actual verb inﬂection as it is used in sentences. In this
. Let us look at how the bases for both verbs and the verbal adjectives are formed.

So‚ in this book‚ verbal adjectives are considered not to have a genuine 命令形 of their own‚ instead relying on the helper verb ある for one. Both of these had a regular form‚ as well as a form involving a contraction with the verb ある‚ meaning “to be”‚ forming ∼かり adjectives. Having covered the “what they look like”‚ let’s look at what this means for a number of verbs from both classes‚ and for verbal adjectives:
五段 verbs
あ
未然形 会わ 歩か 急が
連用形 会い 歩き 急ぎ
連体形 会う 歩く 急ぐ
已然形 会え 歩け 急げ
命令形 会え 歩け 急げ
会う
ある
歩く
いそ
急ぐ
.1 Inﬂecting
49
book‚ I’ve taken the la er approach. However‚ because of ある‚ the かり variants did have these forms‚ instead missing a ﬁnalising and perfect form. However‚ other books list it as being simply “stem + かれ”‚ and so for completeness it has been included in the earlier table of bases. Because of this‚ the し and く versions were ‘pure’ adjectives‚ in that they had no imperfective or commanding form. In addition to this‚ the verbal adjective 命令形 is a point of contention. This gives us “verbal adjective stem + く” + “あれ” → “verbal adjective stem + くあれ”‚ where くあ contracts to か‚ giving us a ﬁnal rule “stem + かれ”. This gave rise to the following rather elaborative set of bases in 文語:
Base 未然形 連用形 終止形 連体形 已然形 命令形
∼く form stem + く stem + し stem + き stem + けれ -
∼かり form stem + から stem + かり stem + かる stem + かれ
∼し form stem+しく stem+し stem+しき stem + しけれ -
∼しかり form stem + しから stem + しかり stem + しかる stem + しかれ
This is a lot of inﬂectional potential‚ but as classical Japanese transitioned to modern Japanese‚ all these forms have essentially become merged‚ leading to a single inﬂectional scheme that mixes forms from the ‘pure’ versions of adjectives with the ある-contracted versions of those adjectives‚ leading to the question of which forms are to be considered belonging to the adjective as it exists now‚ and which belong to the the verb ある‚ which happens to work together with verbal adjectives a lot. In classical Japanese‚ verbal adjectives came in two types: く adjectives and し adjectives.Verb grammar — § 2. for adjectives those would make no sense. In this book‚ we’ll consider the ﬁnal inﬂected 命令形 for verbal adjectives to be a contraction of the verbal adjective’s 連用形 and the 命令形 for the verb ある‚ which is あれ.

50
五段 verbs
はな
Verb grammar — § 2. Luckily‚ telling the diﬀerence when we do have an inﬂected form is really easy‚ as we can tell from the following 一段 inﬂection examples (taking note that the 命令形 as used in this book is just the stem):
. However‚ both were pronounced as -わ‚ -い‚ -う‚ -え and -え. The second thing worth noting in the table is the seemingly disproportionate number of examples for 五段 verbs ending on -る. If a verb ends on る‚ and the syllable preceding it in the あ—‚ う— or お—row (such as is the case for 分かる‚ 売る and 起こる) then this is always a 五段 verb. When these two verb classes were simpliﬁed to today’s 五段 verbs ending on the modern う‚ the 未然 形 pronunciation わ was kept‚ as well as its wri en form.1 Inﬂecting
未然形 話さ 待た 死な 学ば 読ま 連用形 話し 待ち 死に 学び 読み 連体形 話す 待つ 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 已然形 話せ 待て 死ね 学べ 読め 命令形 話せ 待て 死ね 学べ 読め
話す
ま
待つ
し
死ぬ
まな
学ぶ
よ
読む
五段 verbs
わ
未然形 分から 切ら 売ら 帰ら 怒ら
連用形 分かり 切り 売り 帰り 怒り
連体形 分かる 切る 売る 帰る 怒る
已然形 分かれ 切れ 売れ 帰れ 怒れ
命令形 分かれ 切れ 売れ 帰れ 怒れ
分かる
き
切る
う
売る
かえ
帰る
おこ
怒る
There are two things worth noting in these tables. Firstly‚ the 未然形 for 会 う is not a typographical error. The reason for this is that for some verbs ending on る‚ just looking at the verb’s dictionary form is not enough to determine whether it’s actually a 五段 or an 一段 verb‚ so a few examples are needed to show how to tell the two apart. The annoying thing is that without actually looking up the verb in a dictionary‚ or seeing it used in some inﬂected form that lets you spot the diﬀerence between a 五段 base and an 一段 base being used‚ there is no way to tell what kind of verb you’re dealing with. However‚ if the syllable before the る is in the い— or え—row‚ then it might be an 一段 verb instead. it really is わ‚ not あ. This is a left-over from classical Japanese: 五段 verbs ending on う used to be verbs ending on ふ and う (being ‘wu’‚ rather than ‘u’)‚ which inﬂected respectively as -は‚ -ひ‚ -ふ‚ -へ‚ -へ and -わ‚ -ゐ‚ -う‚ -ゑ‚ -ゑ (ゐ and ゑ being the now obsolete Japanese syllables for ‘wi’ and ‘we’‚ which have not been in use since the wri en language was reformed in 1946 by cabinet order).

In these cases‚ we’ll just have to resort to checking a dictionary to be sure of which verb class we’re dealing with. Lastly‚ a list of examples for the verbal adjectives is quite uniform:
adjective
たか
未然形 高く 楽しく 薄く 大きく
連用形 高く 楽しく 薄く 大きく
連体形 高い 楽しい 薄い 大きい
已然形 高けれ 楽しけれ 薄けれ 大きけれ
(命令形) (高かれ) (楽しかれ) (薄かれ) (大きかれ)
高い
たの
楽しい
うす
薄い
おお
大きい
Of course‚ the examples of verbal adjectives wouldn’t be complete without one very curious verbal adjective:
adjective
しゅうね
未然形 執念く
連用形 執念く
連体形 執念い
已然形 執念けれ
(命令形) (執念かれ)
執念い
Normally‚ verbal adjectives end on い‚ preceded by either an あ—‚ い—‚ う— or お—row syllable.1.1 Inﬂecting
一段
み
51
已然形 見れ 伸びれ 食べれ 命令形 見 (ろ/よ) 伸び (ろ/よ) 食べ (ろ/よ)
未然形 見 伸び 食べ
連用形 見 伸び 食べ
連体形 見る 伸びる 食べる
見る
の
伸びる
た
食べる
Comparing this table with the previous one shows that for any inﬂection involving the 未然形‚ 連用形 or 命令形‚ which cover most verbal inﬂections‚ we can readily tell the diﬀerence between a 五段 and 一段 verb. We will start by looking at which particles are essential in order to under-
.Verb grammar — § 2. We shall also look at the basic use and formation of nouns and adverbs‚ so that this chapter in eﬀect covers the minimal basics of “basic Japanese”. The only cases that can leave us uncertain are the 連体形 and 已然形 forms.2 Basic inﬂections
Throughout the course of this section we will look at basic inﬂections for verbs and verbal adjectives‚ as well as look at a small number of particles that are intricately interwoven with verbal grammar. However‚ 執念い is the only verbal adjective in Japanese that ends in an え—row syllable + い.
2. So‚ because there’s only the one‚ we can safely state that if you ﬁnd something that ends in い but it has an え—row syllable preceding it‚ it is virtually certain not to be a verbal adjective. This is in fact so unusual that it is virtually never used‚ and you will likely not ﬁnd this adjective in most dictionaries.

Second is に‚ which broadly speaking marks verb details. For instance‚ in “I throw the ball”‚ the throwing action is imparted on the ball. This particle is used to mark a transitive verb’s direct object. For instance‚ in the English sentence “that car is fast”‚ the adjective “fast” pertains to “that car”. However‚ in “I know the textbook’s material”‚ knowing is not an action imparted ‘on’ the material — in these cases‚ rather than を‚ が is used in Japanese‚ so that for instance “I understand Japanese” is
. When used with verbal adjectives‚ it marks the thing the adjective applies to. However‚ not everything that is considered a direct object in Japanese is considered a direct object when translated to English. This particle is fairly straightforward and does what one expects from it given this explanation. In “I eat an apple” the noun “apple” is the direct object
た
for the verb “eat”‚ and in the corresponding Japanese sentence‚ リンゴを食べる‚ the word リンゴ (‘apple’) is the direct object to the verb 食べる (‘eat’). the Japanese
じ く
sentence ９時に来る translates to “I’ll be there at nine”‚ with に mapping to the prepoわ
sition ‘at’.
はな か
For instance‚ the Japanese sentence メーリに花を買ってあげた translates to the English sentence “I bought ﬂowers for Mary”‚ with に mapping to the word ‘for’‚ which in English indicates an indirect object.
Particles
Verbs and verbal adjectives are used in combination with a number of particles to explicitly mark parts of a sentence as relating to them. Translating a sentence using に to English yields the parts marked with に as becoming indirect objects‚ prepositional phrases or even adverbs. For verbs‚ these are the particles を‚ に and が‚ and for verbal adjectives this is just the particle が. Anything that is “not the verb actor‚ or the direct object”‚ but adds more details to the verb action‚ will be marked with に. For instance‚ in Japanese an aeroplane can “ﬂy the air”‚ whereas in English aeroplanes just ﬂy. Finally‚ the particle が is an interesting particle. First oﬀ‚ を (pronounced as お). This is hardly its only ‘meaning’. Moreover‚ in the Japanese きれいに分ける‚ translating to the English “to divide cleanly”‚ the に marks the noun きれい‚ “clean/neat/tidy”‚ as being used adverbially‚ “neatly‚ cleanly”. This concept is carried over to verbs‚ too. Similarly‚ in the correspondくるま はや
ing Japanese sentence その 車 が速いです‚ the verbal adjective 速い (‘fast’) pertains to その車 (‘that car’). Some verbs have what would in English be considered a direct object‚ but in Japanese are not considered direct object because the verb does not ‘impart’ its action on it.52
Verb grammar — § 2.1 Inﬂecting
stand basic verb grammar‚ and will move from there to simple verb forms: present and past tense‚ as well as aﬃrmative and negative forms. In order to get an overview of the basic concepts involved without oﬀering too much information at once‚ polite verbal grammar will not be introduced until the next chapter‚ after basic grammar has been covered.

e. Listing this form for example words from all three verbal classes‚ we see the following:
連体形
ある
meaning walk see high‚ expensive
plain present aﬃrmative 連体形: 歩く 連体形: 見る 連体形: 高い
五段 verb 一段 verb verbal adjective
歩く
み
見る
たか
高い
Some examples of the present tense used in simple sentences:
きょう
今日は歩く。 Today (I’ll) walk.1 Inﬂecting
にほんご わ
53
not expressed as 日本語を分かる but as 日本語が分かる.‚ ‘in general’)‚ to ‘just today’ (今日). This can have some perhaps unexpected side eﬀects‚ too: when
わたし およ
saying 私 は泳ぎません‚ “I do not swim”‚ the explicit presence of 私は means that you apparently felt that you needed to disambiguate the statement‚ which means any listener will suddenly wonder who then ‘does swim’‚ as opposed to you.Verb grammar — § 2.
Verbal grammar . In addition to these three particles‚ you will also often see the particle は (pronounced as わ) being used in example sentences. Any verb or verbal adjective in 連体形 is automatically in present/indicative future tense. There is no distinction between present tense such as “I walk” and indicative future tense such as “I will walk”.present tense
Before we look at how to form the present tense‚ a note. In the corresponding Japanese sentences‚ the particle changes from を to が: ケーキを食べる becomes ケーキが食べられる. This particle acts as a disambiguator when a sentence would otherwise be confusing in terms of who or what it was
ある きょう
about‚ or what it was in relation to. This is particularly obvious when using verbs in passive mode‚ changing for instance “I eat the cake” to “the cake is being eaten by me”. In addition to this‚ が may mark a verb’s actor‚ so that it is possible to have two diﬀerent uses of が in the
わたし
same sentence: 私 がこれが分かる‚ translates to “I (私‚ actor) understand (分かる‚ verb) this (これ‚ pertaining object)”. For instance‚ 歩かない and 今日は歩かない translate to “I do not walk” and “I won’t be walking today” by virtue of the second sentence disambiguating the context from as broad as possible (i.
. On the other hand‚ 私が泳ぎません merely means “I do not swim”‚ using が to mark yourself as
およ
verb actor for 泳ぐ. Both
れんたいけい
roles are performed by the same verb form in Japanese: the 連体形.

ない is actually a verbal adjective‚ and so inﬂects like any other verbal adjective:
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 form なく なく ない なけれ
This helper is combined with both verbs and verbal adjectives by joining up with the 未然形‚ or imperfect base:
連体形
ある
meaning walk see high‚ expensive
plain present negative 未然形+ない: 歩かない 未然形+ない: 見ない 未然形+ない: 高くない
五段 verb 一段 verb verbal adjective
歩く
み
見る
たか
高い
Recycling our example sentences from the present tense section‚ we get the following sentences:
きょう
今日は歩かない。 Today (I) don’t/won’t walk. In Japanese‚ negative verb and verbal adjective forms are created with the helper adjective of negation‚ ない (無い)‚ or using the rather classical verb ぬ which will be discussed after polite forms have been introduced later in this chapter.
. これが高い。 This is expensive.
Verb grammar — § 2.1 Inﬂecting
Negative
Having covered the present aﬃrmative tense‚ the next important basic inﬂection is the negative form. テレビを見ない。 (I) don’t/won’t watch TV.54 テレビを見る。 (I) watch TV.

へん
Technically‚ する is considered a サ—変 verb‚ or “irregular verb‚ operating on the サ column”.1.1 Inﬂecting これが高くない。 This isn’t expensive.Verb grammar — § 2.
55
However‚ please note that this rule does not apply to the special verb ある‚ which we shall treat in the next section.
The irregular verb する
Looking at する‚ ‘do’‚ ﬁrst‚ we see the following bases and inﬂection table:
base 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 form さ‚ せ‚ し し する すれ せ(よ)‚ し(ろ)‚ せい aﬃrmative plain 連体形 negative “し”—未然形+ない: しない
We see that する actually has three diﬀerent 未然形 forms‚ as well as three diﬀerent 命令形 forms — which of these gets used is fully determined by which inﬂection you’re going for‚ making this verb a bit trickier than any of the other verbs in the language.
. Luckily‚ it’s such a common verb that even though it’s highly irregular you will most likely become familiar with all its inﬂections fairly quickly by virtue of them popping up almost as often as all other verbs put together. For the most part‚ it inﬂects as an 一段 verb‚ but there are rules for what pronunciation to use when using which base‚ which makes it a truly irregular verb.3 Basic inﬂections for irregular verbs and verbal adjectives
There are three irregular verbs in Japanese that we need to look at before moving on
く
to further inﬂections‚ being する‚ “do”/“decide on”‚ 来る‚ “come” and ある‚ “exist” (for inanimate things). Rather than becoming あらない‚ it is simply replaced with ない. (On a ﬁnal note‚ it is imperative this ない should never be confused with another adjective pronounced ない‚ 亡い‚ as that means “deceased”)
2.

However‚ while only used in a small number of verbs‚ some of those verbs are quite common and frequently used‚ so knowing how to inﬂect these two verbs is not unimportant.
く
The irregular verb 来る
く
来る (‘come’) on the other hand‚ inﬂects like any normal 一 段 verb (except for a slightly diﬀerent 命令形)‚ but shares する’s irregularity: the pronunciation for its stem changes for each base. Both of these are typically found used as a verb in a noun/verb compound (meaning they are paired with a noun without using any particles)‚ and only constitute a small number of all verbs in Japanese. Instead‚ you will ﬁnd じ used for virtually all 未然形 constructions‚ with ざ and ぜ indicating respectively classical and non-classical older style Japanese‚ instead.1 Inﬂecting
する has two common “variations”: ずる and じる. However‚ unlike for する there is only one pronunciation for each base‚ so inﬂection doesn’t involve “picking the right pronunciation”‚ but merely remembering it:
base 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 kanji form 来 来 来る 来れ 来い aﬃrmative plain 連体形 pronunciation こ き くる くれ こい negative 未然形+ない: こない
.
base 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 する さ‚ せ‚ し し する すれ せ(よ)‚ し(ろ)‚ せい aﬃrmative する ずる じる 連体形 連体形 連体形 negative “し”—未然形+ない: しない “じ”—未然形+ない: じない “じ”—未然形+ない: じない ずる ざ‚ ぜ‚ じ じ ずる ずれ ぜ(よ)‚ じ(ろ)‚ ぜい じる じ じ じる じれ じ(よ‚ ろ)
For ずる‚ the “ざ” and “ぜ” 未 然 形 are actually not used a lot in modern Japanese anymore.56
Verb grammar — § 2.

Thus‚ we see the following:
ほん
本がある。 “There is a book.” 本がない。 “There is no book.
The irregular verb ある
Finally‚ the verb ある‚ “exist” (for inanimate things) has seemingly normal bases‚ but its inﬂection is quite special:
base 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 form あら あり ある あれ あれ
aﬃrmative plain 連体形
negative ない
This verb is irregular in all its negative forms: rather than using the 未然形+な い rule‚ just ない itself is used. However‚ in spoken language its irregularity is plainly obvious.”
The irregular adjective いい
In addition to these verbs‚ there is the irregular verbal adjective いい‚ “good”‚ which is actually the irregular verbal adjective よい:
base 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 form よく よく よい‚ いい よけれ
.1 Inﬂecting
57
As is evident from the table of bases‚ and the table of inﬂections‚ this verb is virtually indistinguishable from any other 一段 verb.Verb grammar — § 2.

1 Inﬂecting
The only irregularity for this verbal adjective is its 連体形‚ which is technically よい‚ but is almost always used as いい instead. It is combined with verbal 連用形 forms‚ being wholly unremarkable for the 一段 verbs‚ simply pairing up with the 連用形‚ but being not quite so unremarkable for 五段 verbs.
Past tense
The last basic inﬂection we will look at on its own in this chapter is the past tense‚ which relies on the classical helper verb for past tense‚ た.58
aﬃrmative plain いい negative 未然形+ない: よくない
Verb grammar — § 2. Of the two‚ いい is actually considered the plain pronunciation‚ and よい a formal variant. While in classical Japanese‚ the same rule applies as for 一段 verbs‚ in modern Japanese most past tenses for 五段 verbs have become contracted‚ as we can see in the following table:
五段
はな
連用形 話し 歩き 急ぎ 死に 学び 読み 会い 待ち
classical past tense 連用形+た: 話した 連用形+た: 歩きた 連用形+た: 急ぎた 連用形+た: 死にた 連用形+た: 学びた 連用形+た: 読みた 連用形+た: 会いた 連用形+た: 待ちた
modern past tense 話した 歩いた 急いだ 死んだ 学んだ 読んだ 会った 待った
change ‘rule’ す verbs: no change く verbs: きた → いた ぐ verbs: ぎた → いだ ぬ verbs: にた → んだ ぶ verbs: びた → んだ む verbs: みた → んだ う verbs: いた →った つ verbs: ちた →った
話す
ある
歩く
いそ
急ぐ
し
死ぬ
まな
学ぶ
よ
読む
あ
会う
ま
待つ
. This helper verb has the following bases:
base 未然形 連体形 已然形 form たろ た たら
This verb has no 連用形 (it doesn’t make sense to mark something as a past tense and then continue inﬂecting it to something else)‚ nor does it have a 命令形 (because one cannot command someone to do something in the past). Not knowing that these two are actually the same adjective can lead to confusion in more complex inﬂections‚ such as when the adjective いい turns into the past tense よかった.

Of course‚ there are a few exceptions to these rules. In all other respects‚ 行く is just another 五段 verb. For 一段 verbs things are a lot simpler‚ and we see a regular table of inﬂection:
. These verbs are mostly used in writing‚ and in formal speech‚ but since there are only two (with two kanji forms each) it cannot hurt to look at them:
verb
と
meaning ask‚ question‚ accuse 〃 ask 〃
past tense 問うた 訪うた 乞うた 請うた
問う
と
訪う
こ
乞う
こ
請う
These verbs can‚ technically‚ also be inﬂected like regular 五段 verbs‚ but since they are mostly reserved for formal spoken and literary wri en Japanese‚ if you encounter them you will most likely encounter them as 連体形 + た. Secondly‚ there is a (very small) set of verbs that have a rather abnormal past tense‚ based on adding た to the 連体形 instead of the 連用形. Luckily‚ this is not some obscure verb you will run into only occasionally and will have forgo en this exception for: 行く means “go”‚ and is used so frequently you will not get a chance to forget it has an irregular past tense. There is no real reason for this‚ other than “that’s just how people use it”.1 Inﬂecting
五段
わ
59
modern past tense 分かった あった change ‘rule’ る verbs: りた →った る verbs: りた →った
連用形 分かり あり
classical past tense 連用形+た: 分かりた 連用形+た: ありた
分かる
ある
These rules for contraction in 五段 verbs (luckily) do not just apply to the past tense‚ but to several other inﬂections (namely the continuative て form‚ which is tremendously important to know‚ the representative たり form‚ and the conditional たら form)‚ so that this is not a set of rules you will need to remember for a single inﬂection‚ but applies to a number of often used inﬂections‚ making the exception itself somewhat ‘regular’. First up‚ 行く‚ which follows the “wrong” rule:
verb
い
連用形 行き
classical past tense 連用形+た
modern past tense いった
行く
The verb 行く‚ pronounced いく or ゆく (the ﬁrst being used in every day life‚ the la er being used in poetry and song lyrics)‚ does not follow the contraction rule for 五段 verbs ending onく.Verb grammar — § 2.

For verbal adjectives‚ rather than a plain inﬂection‚ the adjectives work together with the verb ある (“to be”‚ for inanimate objects and concepts). Again for reasons mostly due to “that’s just what people ended up using”‚ the verbal adjective 連用形 paired with あった‚ […]くあった‚ has become contracted over the course of linguistic history to become […]かった in modern Japanese:
adjective
たか
meaning high‚ expensive fun‚ enjoyable thin‚ light big
連用形 高く 楽しく 薄く 大きく
+ past tense of ある 高く + あった 楽しく + あった 薄く + あった 大きく + あった
resulting past tense 高かった 楽しかった 薄かった 大きかった
高い
たの
楽しい
うす
薄い
おお
大きい
irregular いい
meaning good meaning -
連用形 よく 連用形 なく
+ past tense of ある よく + あった + past tense of ある なく + あった
resulting past tense よかった
negation ない
resulting past tense なかった
. However‚ because ある is a 五段 verb‚ it contracts: the classical past tense ありた has become あった‚ and it is this that the verbal adjective itself contracts with.1 Inﬂecting
連用形 見 伸び 食べ past tense 連用形+た: 見た 連用形+た: 伸びた 連用形+た: 食べた
見る
の
伸びる
た
食べる
And for the irregular verbs we see the same‚ bearing in mind that the stems have a diﬀerent pronunciation:
Irregular する
く
連用形 し き
past tense 連用形+た: した 連用形+た: きた
来る
To form the plain past negative‚ rather than just the plain past‚ we have to take the plain present negative based on ない‚ and turn this into a past tense‚ which means we need to look at how to form the past tense for verbal adjectives in general ﬁrst.60
一段
み
Verb grammar — § 2.

In several major dialects this isn’t actually the case‚ and for instance in the Kansaiben dialect (where the word へん is used instead of ない) ある inﬂects like any other 五段 verb‚ with a negative form あらへん. Why standard Japanese has this ‘dual nature’ for ある is mainly because of historic use (languages serve the people using them‚ and if that use changes‚ the language changes). So‚ while they belong to diﬀerent word classes‚ ある and ない
.1 Inﬂecting
61
Past negative
So now we can also form the plain past negative for verbs‚ using 未然形 + “past tense of ない”‚ なかった‚ noting that for the verb ある things are (of course) diﬀerent:
五段
はな
未然形 話さ 歩か 急が 死な 学ば 読ま 会わ 待た 分から
negative 話さない 歩かない 急がない 死なない 学ばない 読まない 会わない 待たない 分からない
past negative tense 話さなかった 歩かなかった 急がなかった 死ななかった 学ばなかった 読まなかった 会わなかった 待たなかった 分からなかった
話す
ある
歩く
いそ
急ぐ
し
死ぬ
まな
学ぶ
よ
読む
あ
会う
ま
待つ
わ
分かる
一段
み
未然形 見 伸び 食べ 未然形 し こ あら
negative 見ない 伸びない 食べない
past negative tense 見なかった 伸びなかった 食べなかった
見る
の
伸びる
た
食べる
Irregular する 来る ある
past tense しない こない ない
past negative tense しなかった こなかった なかった
Again‚ of the irregular verbs ある is the most irregular‚ its past negative form simply being the past form of ない‚ rather than the typical 五段 inﬂection あらない.Verb grammar — § 2. However‚ we can at least look at why this duality can even exist in the ﬁrst place: ある means “to be”‚ for inanimate objects and concepts‚ and ない is an adjective for non-existence‚ which is in concept the complete opposite.

It also counts as a half irregular verbal adjectives‚ because all the negatives for ある are just aﬃrmative inﬂections of ない.1 Inﬂecting
can be considered two sides of the same coin.
い
inﬂecting 行く
aﬃrmative present past 連体形 いった negative 未然形 + ない 未然形 + なかった
inﬂecting ある
aﬃrmative present past 連体形 連用形 + た (c) negative ない なかった
く
inﬂecting 一段 verbs‚ including 来る
aﬃrmative present past 連体形 連用形 + た negative 未然形 + ない 未然形 + なかった
.4 In summary
In summary‚ we can draw up tables for verbal inﬂection‚ plus the irregularities:
inﬂecting 五段 verbs
aﬃrmative present past 連体形 連用形 + た (c) negative 未然形 + ない 未然形 + なかった
In this scheme‚ (c) indicates that a contraction occurs‚ with what the contraction looks like being dependent on which of the す‚ く‚ ぐ‚ つ‚ ぬ‚ ぶ‚ む or る 五段 verbs is being inﬂected.1. all aﬃrmative inﬂections work in exactly the same way as normal 五段 verbs. It’s li le things like this that make languages interesting. This is also the reason why ある only half counts as an irregular verb.62
Verb grammar — § 2.
2.

” B: “A cheap umbrella you said? What about this one?” A: “Ah‚ that’s a nice umbrella. This goes for all adjectives: there is no distinction between the a ributive (normal adjective) and comparative (the English “-er” form of adjectives) forms of verbal adjectives in Japanese‚ similar to how there is no distinction between present and immediate future tense for verbs in Japanese.” In this conversation‚ もっと is used to ask for an “even more” cheap item‚ but only after it has been established that the item in question is (already) cheap. While in English these are three distinct concepts‚ Japanese shows itself to be
れんたいけい
a sparse language yet again‚ using the 連体形 for both the a ributive as well as comparative forms:
さかな やす さけ まぐろ か さいきん たか
A: 魚 と言って、鮭や 鮪 が最近高くなった、なぁ。 B: じゃあ、安い魚を買え。 A: “Fish like salmon and tuna’s go en expensive recently. With that‚ we get the added bonus that they let us compare properties‚ allowing us to say something is red‚ redder than something else‚ or the reddest thing we’ve ever seen.2 Adjectives
We need to spend some extra time looking at verbal adjectives‚ and adjectives in general‚ because they can do something verbs cannot do‚ and that’s to indicate properties. But I was wondering whether you had an even cheaper one.64
Verb grammar — § 2.” B: “So buy a cheap(er) ﬁsh.” Even though 安い means “cheap” when used as normal a ributive‚ it can also mean “cheaper” when there is some context in which the property “cheap” contrasts to some other property “expensive”. When we want to compare the same property‚ however‚ such as comparing a cheap ﬁsh to an even cheaper ﬁsh‚ we can use もっと to indicate explicit comparative:
かさ さが
A: あのう、安い傘を探しているんですけど…… B: 安い傘ですね。これがいかがでしょうか。 A: ああ、いい傘ですね。けれど、もっと安いのありましょうか。 B: どうもすみませんが、これより安いのはありません。 A: “I am looking for a cheap umbrella.2 Adjectives
2.” B: “Ah‚ I’m sorry but we do not have any umbrellas cheaper than this. An example of incorrect use of もっと would be:
.

Many students new to the language will use 一番
いちばんせんせい いちばんくるま
without an adjective‚ and end up saying things like 一番先生 or 一番車 ‚ which would literally mean “most teacher” and “most car”. The particle の is generally explained as being used to genitivally link nouns‚ but that doesn’t tell us what it really does.
2. In English‚ examples of these would be ‘my car’ in “this is my car”‚ ‘love song’ in “this is a love song”‚ and ‘old story’ in “that’s just an old story”‚ but while in English these are seemingly diﬀerent constructions‚ in Japanese they all use の:
.
2. More interestingly‚ they don’t even decline like they do in English. In Japanese‚ genitive is expressed as either marking possession (origin or root concept)‚ description‚ or a contextualising construction. Do you have an even cheaper one?” This is clearly incorrect use of language‚ as we can only ask for an even cheaper item if the present one is already cheap. turning “book” into “books” for instance‚ or “us” into “our”‚ are declensions that indicate something in addition to the root noun‚ like plurality or possession.3.3 Noun inﬂection
たか
65
A: この傘はちょっと高いですね。もっと安いのがありますか。 If we were to translate this sentence‚ it would say “This umbrella is a bit expensive. Usually when this mistake is made‚ all that is missing is the
いちばん
adjective いい‚ meaning good: 一番いい creates the superlative “best”.1 Particles
There are three important particles that we can use when dealing with noun inﬂection/declension‚ being の‚ と‚ and や. These sentences are not grammatical in either Japanese or English‚ since they lack a modiﬁer to explain exactly what these nouns are the most of.Verb grammar — § 2. The superlative‚ in English the “most …” version of an adjective‚ is formed in
いちばん
Japanese by preﬁxing the word 一番 to the adjective (which literally means “ﬁrst”‚ in the context of a ranking):
いちばんはや くるま
一番速い 車 はあのフェラーリです。 “The fastest car (here) is that Ferrari. Instead‚ everything is either done by marking nouns (or indeed entire noun phrases) with particles‚ or by using copula verbs in Japanese.3 Noun inﬂection
Nouns do not inﬂect in Japanese.” Remember that this is an adjective construction and that 一番 requires an adjective to turn into a superlative.

ただの[X] means “just X”‚ with ただ meaning ‘just’ or ‘merely’‚ and [X] being any noun phrase‚ in this case “昔の話”. This is a complicated way to look at what’s going on in a seemingly simple particle‚ so it is usually easier to note the speciﬁc interpretation instead: we can say that 愛 describes 歌‚ or that 愛 acts as context for 歌‚ and that this construction is closely related to the idea of a compound noun. It usually makes most sense to analyse long chains like these by looking at the [X]の[Y] pa erns in a last-to-ﬁrst order‚ because (as always) the most important words come last:
. In the sentence‚ the “song”‚ 歌‚ is considered a speciﬁc kind of song‚ which we can explain by saying “it genitivally stems from 愛”‚ meaning that as a whole‚ the word derives its core meaning from 歌‚ but its nuance from 愛.” This sentence is particularly interesting because it uses の twice.” Let us analyse what happens in this chain.”
In this sentence‚ which illustrates の being used for possession‚ the function is fairly obvious: “[X]の[Y]” means “[X]’s [Y]” or “[Y] of [X]”.
あい うた
これは愛の歌です。 “This is a love song. If we use this in a slightly bigger‚ more interesting sentence‚ we see the following:
むかし はなし
ただの 昔 の 話 です。 “(That)’s just an old story.3 Noun inﬂection これは僕の 車 です。 “This is my car.66
ぼく くるま
Verb grammar — § 2. However‚ things get more complicated when we look at the other three functions. In this interpretation‚ “[X]の[Y]” typically translates to “[X] [Y]” in English‚
むかし はなし
so that 愛の歌 becomes “love song”‚ and for instance 昔 の 話 becomes “old story” (with 昔 being a noun meaning ‘long ago’‚ and 話 meaning ‘story’). This kind of chaining can be taken to extremes‚ such as in the following example:
ねえ ともだち ささき あそ き
うちの姉さんの友達の「佐崎」が遊びに来た。 “My sister’s friend‚ Sasaki‚ came over (today).” In this sentence‚ the idea behind the pa ern is slightly more complicated‚ because it’s related to a pa ern of thought that we’re generally not used to in English. This is the simplest use of の.

2 Inﬂection
Actual inﬂection of nouns relies on copula verbs‚ as it does in English. The other two particles‚ と and や‚ are much simpler to understand than の: と links nouns to form an exhaustive list‚ while や forms a representative list.Verb grammar — § 2. Of course‚ it (almost) goes without saying that you cannot mix と and や. The main issue with learning to use these pa erns‚ and more importantly‚ understanding them while listening to native speakers‚ is that the most important information comes last‚ so you have to keep track of all the context nouns before the ﬁnal operative noun gets used.” However‚ if they instead bought a lot of refreshments (say they were planning a party)‚ then the following sentence would be easier than listing every individual item on the shopping list:
ジュースや牛乳やお茶を買った。 “(I) bought juice‚ milk‚ tea (and the like).” That’s the only diﬀerence betweenと and や (for the purpose of noun listing). So‚ for the moment‚ we will look at the two most common copulae: the plain form だ and its polite counterpart‚ です. If we look at their verb bases‚ we see the following:
.
2. Technically‚ these are both verbs‚ although だ is somewhat more complex than です. Both form a list of items‚ and by using と you imply that what you describe is the whole list‚ while if you use や you imply that even though it’s a list‚ it’s not the whole list‚ just a representative snippet.3. While in English only the verb “to be” fulﬁls the role of copula‚ in Japanese there are a number of copulae to pick from.3 Noun inﬂection
[X]の[Y] 友達の「佐崎」 姉さんの友達 うちの姉さん translation (my/your/his/her/our/their) friend‚ Sasaki (my/your/his/her/our/their) sister’s friend (my/our) sister
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While this sounds like an artiﬁcial example‚ it is actually quite common to ﬁnd three or even four nouns linked through の to create a single‚ more and more speciﬁc noun phrase. For instance‚ if someone went to the supermarket and bought orange juice‚ milk and tea‚ and that’s all they bought‚ then we can list all these things with と:
ぎゅうにゅう ちゃ か
ジュースと 牛乳 とお茶を買った。 “(I) bought juice‚ milk and tea.

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です 未然形 連用形 終止形 連体形 已然形 でしよ でし です です だ だろ だっ (で) だ な なら copula だろ で です/だ です/な なら
Verb grammar — § 2. However‚ when used a ributively (eﬀectively turning nouns into adjectives)‚ which uses the 連体形‚ the classical 連体形 is used and we end up with な. Although the language reforms of the 20th century have for the most part merged the functions of 終止形 and 連体形‚ this particular instance of separate form has been preserved‚ rather than go en rid of. The reason it exists for (this) copula is that だ is relatively special: when used to end noun phrases‚ its 終止形 is used‚ and so it uses the form だ.” There is no diﬀerence in meaning between those two sentences‚ the only difference is the perceived politeness‚ with です being neutral polite‚ while だ is plain form. chairs don’t become red because you order them to‚ people don’t become angry just because you tell them to‚ and it doesn’t suddenly become night because you ordain it so. Luckily you will rarely‚ if ever‚ need to recite the bases for です or だ‚ but だ is used a ributively so frequently that you should have li le problem remembering when to use だ and when to use な.
Present tense
The present tense for だ and です are just as simple as for any other verb:
ほん
これは本だ。 これは本です。 “This is a book. When we need a 連体形 copula‚ we can use either だ or です depending on whether we want plain form or polite form‚ but when we need a continuative (which will be explained in the next chapter)‚ modern Japanese uses で. Third‚ there is a 終止形 entry‚ which most modern verbs do not use.
.3 Noun inﬂection
First‚ there is no 命令形‚ which kind of makes sense — one cannot order something to all of a sudden have some property. At least not without superpowers of some sort‚ which are beyond the scope of this book. Secondly‚ the “copula” column is a bit special: it tells you which form is typically used when a certain base form is relied on.

” これは本じゃない。 “This isn’t a book. To illustrate:
ほん
これは本だ。 “This is a book.3 Noun inﬂection
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Past tense
The past tenses for both だ and です are also reasonably straightforward‚ although we do need to know a li le bit more about where だ came from. However‚ what is this じゃ? Interestingly‚ じゃ is (and not just for this particular inﬂection‚ but in general) the “particle” で‚ which is the 連用形 for です‚ and the disambiguating particle は (pronounced わ).”
. However‚ the で+あ in this である has contracted over time‚ to form だる‚ which explains the 未然形 for だ‚ which is だろ.Verb grammar — § 2. This copula is actually still used in modern Japanese in formal se ings. Again we see evidence of the presence of ある. The common explanation for だ is that it came from で‚ the continuative of です‚ and the verb ある‚ to form the copula である.” Again‚ there is no diﬀerence in meaning‚ only in perceived politeness. It also explains its past tense: だった‚ since ある is a normal 五段 verb and thus contracts in its past tense. For です the story is a bit simpler: its 連用形 is でし‚ and so its past tense is でした.” これは本ではない。 “This is not a book.” それは本でした。 “That was a book.
ほん
それは本だった。 “That was a book. For だ‚ the plain negative is じゃない‚ which is じゃ plus the adjective for negation that we already saw for verbs‚ ない.
Negative
The negative forms for だ and です are more interesting. This では can either be used by itself (and frequently is)‚ or its contraction じゃ can be used‚ with the only diﬀerence between the two being that で は is more formal than じゃ.

”
Past negative
For だ‚ the present negative じゃない (ではない) is placed in past tense‚ turning ない into なかった: じゃなかった (ではなかった). For です the story gets more complicated‚ because instead of using the negative form of です itself‚ the polite form ではない is used in polite form‚ using the polite negative of ある instead of ない‚ which means we need to introduce the classical helper verb of politeness: ます. While the explanation might be more complicated than you might have expected‚ the ﬁnal result should sound familiar‚ since the polite negation —ません‚ and the general statement ありません‚ are used constantly in modern Japanese.” これは本ではありません。 “This is not a book.70
Verb grammar — § 2. With this‚ we can form the polite negative of the copulae: じゃありません‚ or more formally‚ ではありません これは本です。 “This is a book.”
.” これは本じゃありません。 “This is not a book.3 Noun inﬂection
There is no diﬀerence in meaning between the la er two sentences‚ just in formality.
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 form ませ (ましよ) まし ます ませ (ますれ) ませ
This helper verb is used in combination with verbs in their 連用形‚ so that the polite form of ある becomes あり+ます‚ and the polite negative is formed by taking this あります and making ます negative using the super classical negative “ん”: あ りませ+ん.
ほん
これは本だった。 “This was a book.

” これは本ではありませんでした。 “This was not a book.” While‚ again‚ this derivation is rather complicated‚ the important bit is that you remember the copula inﬂection table. これは本でした。 “This was a book.Verb grammar — § 2.” これは本ではなかった。 “This was not a book.”
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For です‚ things get really weird: the polite negative ありません in じゃあり ません (ではありません) is placed in past tense by adding the past tense for です‚ で した‚ at the end: じゃありませんでした (ではありませんでした).
In summary
The best way to reiterate the diﬀerent inﬂections for the copulae is in the form of a table:
aﬃrmative plain present polite present plain past polite past noun + だ noun + です noun + だった noun + でした negative noun + じゃない (noun + ではない) noun + じゃありません (noun + ではありません) noun + じゃなかった (noun + ではなかった) noun + じゃありませんでした (noun + ではありませんでした)
.” これは本じゃありませんでした。 “This was not a book.3 Noun inﬂection これは本じゃなかった。 “This was not a book.

” どの車がいい？ “Which car do you like?” It should be obvious that this series is not actually a pronoun series‚ since it
. The most frequently used こそあど series are the following:
こそあど この[noun] その[noun] あの[noun] どの[noun] meaning this [noun] that [noun] that [noun] over there which [noun]
with examples:
くるま はや
この 車 が速いです。 “This car is fast.72
Verb grammar — § 2. These are colloquially known as the こそあど‚ and they’re called this because they come as series of four‚ starting with こ-‚ そ-‚ あ. Words starting with こ refer to things in the speaker’s personal zone‚ words starting with そ refer to things in the listener’s personal zone‚ and words starting with あ refer to things that are neither in the speaker’s nor the listener’s personal zone.”
こわ
あの車が壊れた。 “That car (over there) is broken. Finally‚ words starting with ど are the question words for the series‚ known as interrogatives.4 Pronouns: こそあど
In addition to regular nouns‚ Japanese has a set of words which are often (but mistakenly) labelled pronouns.and ど-‚ to refer to (conceptually or physically) close to the speaker‚ close to the listener‚ close to neither‚ and as a question word. I mentioned that the こそあど are often mistakenly called pronouns‚ because many series in the こそあど actually work together with nouns rather than replacing them‚ as they would if they were genuine pronouns.4 Pronouns: こそあど
2.”
くろ
その車が黒いです。 “That car is black. To properly understand this‚ the concept of a personal zone is important: the Japanese do not separate locations in just “here” and “there”‚ but in “here”‚ “there” and a conceptual location akin to “yonder”.

” どれがいい？ “Which do you like?” Notice the periods after the English translations for the individual こそあど. While the English dialogue uses the word “what”‚ the Japanese question would actually be “which/what kind of feeling does that have?”
. which. The rest of the common こそあど series are:
こそあど こんな[noun] そんな[noun] あんな[noun] どんな[noun] meaning this kind of [noun] that kind of [noun] that kind of [noun] over there which kind of [noun]
なに
Beginning students often confuse ど ん な with the word 何 which means “what”‚ when thinking of dialogues such as: “I bought a velour pillow” .
with examples: これが速いです。 “This is fast.“wow‚ what does that feel like?”.Verb grammar — § 2.” それが黒いです。 “That’s black. these have been added to make sure you understand that these words are “done. However‚ that said‚ there are a few こそあど series that act as a genuine series of pronouns‚ such as:
こそあど これ それ あれ どれ meaning this.” あれが壊れた。 “That (over there)’s broken. that over there.” They are replacement nouns‚ and cannot be used in conjunction with a noun.4 Pronouns: こそあど
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doesn’t replace the noun in question. that.

There is an irregularity with the “not near me‚ not near you” version‚ which has two possible pronunciations‚ neither of which use just an あ rather than a こ‚ そ‚ or ど. that direction/that person.
Notice the seeming irregularity for ああ here. Since personal pronouns are avoided as much as possible in Japanese‚ it is considered polite to refer to someone by referring to the direction in which they are located‚ relative to the speaker‚ similar to using the English indirect way of referring to someone: “Over here we have Mr.
Since this is a contracted version of the previous set‚ it cannot be used to refer to people respectfully . Both these versions are accepted Japanese‚ although あそこ is slightly more ‘proper’ than あすこ. that way/manner (referring to something distal). You can‚ technically‚ use this word to refer to people‚ but then only in a familiar conversation.74
こそあど こちら そちら あちら どちら
Verb grammar — § 2. instead‚ they have an additional syllable‚ being either そ or す. which direction/which honourable person.
こそあど こっち そっち あっち どっち meaning this direction/this person. Carver”‚ rather than just saying “This is Mr. how/in which way/in which manner.you don’t use colloquially contracted words when you’re being respectful. that direction/that honourable person over there. Carver”.4 Pronouns: こそあど
meaning this direction/this honourable person.
こそあど ここ そこ あそこ‚ あすこ どこ meaning here there over there where
The location こそあど‚ like the これ/それ/あれ/どれ series‚ acts as a pronoun. that way/that manner.
こそあど こう そう ああ どう meaning this way/this manner. I say seeming‚ because this こ そあど series is actually each of the four “preﬁxes” with a long vowel sound — for こ‚
. that direction/that honourable person. that direction over there/that person over there.
This series can mean two things‚ depending on context. which direction/which person.

As an added bonus‚ あなた is also commonly understood to be two seemingly completely opposite things. which person (who). that person over there (you). that person (him/he‚ her/she). Where the former are all reasonably polite in some way‚ this series actually borders on derogatory‚ so you should probably try to avoid using it.)and こなた (etc. However‚ it’s also frequently used in the expression どいつ もこいつも‚ meaning “each and every one” in the sense of people:
じゃま しごと でき
もういい。どいつもこいつも邪魔をして仕事を出来るわけないじゃない か。 “Oh‚ for crying out loud.
Since this set is a tad classical‚ there are a few things to notice. that person (him/he‚ her/she).variant should sound familiar:
こそあど こなた そなた あなた どなた meaning this person (I/me/you/him/he/her/she). Lastly‚ while どなた means “who”‚ it is considered a distal and reserved interだれ
rogative.Verb grammar — § 2.
In addition to the こちら (etc. First of all‚ そな た refers to a third person (he/she)‚ while あなた refers to second person (you).4 Pronouns: こそあど
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そ and ど this is a う‚ for あ‚ this is (clearly) not a う at all‚ but another あ. that person over there (you). which person (who). The plain version of “who” is the pronoun 誰‚ which is not associated with any こそあど series.) series‚ we also have this series available for referring to people.
こそあど こいつ そいつ あいつ どいつ meaning this person (I/me/you/him/he/her/she). How can I be expected to do my job with everyone and their dog ge ing in the way?”
. However‚ because it is used exclusively in formal se ings it is considered distal and very impersonal‚ and should thus only be used in formal se ings where it would be improper to address someone the normal way. On the one hand‚ it is the deferred‚ distal‚ formal word for “you”‚ and on the other hand it also means “you” in a highly intimate relationship‚ akin to the English terms “dear”‚ “darling” or “honey” being used by couples to call each other.)‚ こっち (etc. Finally‚ there is also a somewhat more classical series‚ of which the あ. Also‚ while somewhat classical‚ this set is still used in formal se ings.

5. This can be illustrated with some に/と comparison sentences:
ちから
力 になります。 “(This) will become (our) strength”.5 Special verbs
There are a number of special verbs that deserve a bit of extra a ention as they are used so frequently in the language that it would be a miss to not highlight their roles.
2. The verb なる is a 五段 verb‚ without any irregularities‚ meaning its bases are なら‚ なり‚ なる‚ なれ and なれ. 力となります。 “(This) will be (our) strength”. Finally it can of course also be used to describe the process of “becoming” itself‚ (such as “to quickly become […]”) by using proper adverbs.” バンドの出演は五月二十四日となります。 “The band’s performance will be on May the 24th . In Japanese‚ the process of becoming is expressed with the verb なる‚ which can be used to describe becoming a particular state (such as “becoming cold”) through the use of state nouns or adjective-derived adverbs‚ as well as being usable to describe becoming a particular thing (such as “becoming an adult”) by using it with nouns.1 Becoming: なる
Before you can say something “is” something else‚ it ﬁrst has to “become” this something else.76
Verb grammar — § 2.
しゅつえん ごがつ にじゅうよっか
バンドの 出演 は五月二十四日になります。 “The band’s performance will be set to (literally: become) May the 24th .
2.”
. Finally‚ some こそあど are used in more complicated pa erns‚ such as the こ
ふう よう
んな… series + 風‚ or the この… series + 様‚ which we shall look at in the chapter on language pa erns. While typically used in combination with the verb particle に‚ it can also be used in combination with the particle と (not in its role as noun lister)‚ in which case its meaning changes from “become” to “be” (often interpreted as the immediate future “will be”).5 Special verbs
Technically this ど…もこ…も pa ern can be used for any こそあど series‚ although the more polite or formal the series‚ the less this pa ern can be applied.

5. These include だ‚ です‚ but also several less frequently used copulae such as である‚ でござる and でいらっしゃる. after all‚ the sentence “it is a dog” is essentially the same as the sentence “there is a dog” with the word “there” replaced with “it”. The existential verb role‚ on the other hand‚ is actually performed by two distinct verbs in Japanese: one describing existence for animate objects (such as humans‚ animals‚ and things that can be considered animate‚ like “AIBO” robot puppies and the like) and one describing existence for inanimate objects and abstract things. Where in English the verb “to be” is used as both a copula (the verb that sets up deﬁnitions such as “A is B”) and as a existential verb (the verb that indicates existence somewhere‚ such as “A is [here]”)‚ in Japanese these are two (or more accurately‚ three) distinct roles. Because we are using verbs to mark existence and we are talking about actual instances of dogs and books‚ saying they exist means we also say they exist at some location. say something “is” a thing‚ such as “it is a dog” or “it is a book”‚ we use a copula instead. In the second sentence X is a book‚ which is rather inanimate‚ and thus ある is used.”
ほん
本がある。 “(There) is a book. Also‚ in both sentences‚ the word “there” is entirely implied. To indicate that “A is B”‚ distinct copulae are used in Japanese. Both sentences translate to “there is X”‚ but in the ﬁrst sentence X is a dog‚ which is an animate ‘object’‚ and because of this‚ we need to use いる.5 Special verbs
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2. For most people used to western language‚ these verbs may at ﬁrst glance seem to do the same as what いる and ある do.2 Being: です‚ だ‚ ある‚ いる
We already looked at です and だ‚ but we haven’t really looked at how they ﬁt together with other existential verbs‚ and how each diﬀers from the other.Verb grammar — § 2. Put concisely‚ deﬁnitions in Japanese can only be done using copulae‚ and marking existence can only be done using いる or ある:
.e.” In both sentences‚ が marks the preceding part as subject of the sentence. These are いる (居る) and ある (有る)‚ respectively. However‚ there is a very important diﬀerence: in “there is a dog”‚ we are saying that a dog exists somewhere‚ whereas in “it is a dog”‚ we are deﬁning some “it” to be of the category “dog”. To illustrate the diﬀerence between animate and inanimate‚ let’s look at two sentences:
いぬ
犬がいる。 “(There) is a dog. If we only want to deﬁne something‚ i.

There is a third meaning to する‚ when paired with the particle と‚ which is “to consider something …”:
わたし ひつよう
これが 私 が必要とするものです。 “These are the things (that) I consider important. When used in combination with a direct object — as transitive verb — する does mean “do”‚ but when used as intransitive verb‚ its meaning should be considered to be “decide on” or “choose”.5. The diﬀerence in meaning is striking.5 Special verbs
本が四角です。 “Books are rectangular. To show this diﬀerence in meaning
たどうし
between the transitive (strictly speaking‚ 他動詞) and intransitive (strictly speaking‚
じどうし
自動詞) versions of する‚ two short sentences:
なに
何をするか。 “What are (you) doing?” 何にするか。 “What will (you) pick?” In the ﬁrst sentence‚ を marks the preceding as direct object to the verb‚ while in the second sentence‚ に marks the preceding part as indirect object to the verb.”
2.”
どうぶつ
犬が動物だ。 “Dogs are animals.3 Doing: する
We’ve already seen する as irregular verb‚ and it has been used in enough example sentences to let it be no surprise that it means “do”.”
.78 犬です。 “It is a dog.” 本だ。 “It is a book.”
しかく
Verb grammar — § 2. However‚ this isn’t the only meaning for this verb.

For instance‚ if I want to say that aside from my portable radio I also have a radio at home‚ instead of saying “I have a radio at home too” I would say “there is a radio at my house too”: うちもラジオがある。 “(I) have a radio at home‚ too. Since ある means “exist” for inanimate things‚ and since the adjective ない means “not (exist)”‚ there are actually (almost) always two interpretations possible when ない is used in a sentence‚ by virtue of ある having two possible interpretations: ラジオがない。 1) “(There) is no radio.Verb grammar — § 2. You should now be able to use most verbs in plain present aﬃrmative and negative forms‚ as well as past tense‚ and hopefully be interested enough to move on to the next chapter‚ which will brieﬂy recap the inﬂections covered in this chapter before moving on to the (rather extensive!) list of verbal inﬂections that are found in Japanese.
. while it means “exist” for inanimate things‚ this meaning also leads it to be usable for what in English is represented by “to have” in sentences like “I have a radio”.” So for this reason it has been included in the list of important verbs. if we look at it as the negative form for ある‚ which we should‚ then it’s a verb form‚ and a very important one at that.5.” 2) “(I) do not have a radio.5.
2.
2.5 Negative presence: ない
I know that ない is not a verb‚ but the reason it’s in this list is because of ある‚ which is very much a verb.6 More Verb Grammar
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2. In Japanese‚ you don’t say you “have” something‚ but that “something is with you”.” Because of this double role‚ it’s quite an important verb.4 Possessive: ある
We’re not quite done treating ある.6 More Verb Grammar
This covers the basics of verbal grammar.

6 More Verb Grammar
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Verb grammar — § 2.

Note that as of this chapter all the verbs and adjectives that have been used in the previous chapter‚ which we will continue to use in this one‚ will not come with furigana. At this point‚ you should know how they are read (and if you don’t‚ just ﬂip back to the previous chapter for the readings).Chapter 3
More grammar
Having covered the basics in the previous chapter‚ we will revisit and elaborate on certain inﬂections and conjugations‚ as well as list all of the other inﬂections that are used in the Japanese language. This chapter treats the inﬂections one by one‚ starting with a recap of politeness and explaining how it applies to all verbs‚ then treating all the basic — but not yet covered — inﬂections‚ followed by the more advanced inﬂections that are used in Japanese.1 Politeness
ていねいご
Politeness‚ or the use of 丁寧語 as it is called in Japanese‚ revolves around using で す and ます.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections 3.
3.1. We saw these explained in the previous chapter‚ but for completeness their bases will be listed again here:
ます 未然形 連用形 終止形 連体形 已然形 命令形 ませ (ましよ) まし ます ませ (ますれ) ませ
です でしよ でし です
だ だろ だっ (で) だ な なら
copula でしょ/だろ で です/だ です/な なら
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.

”
.2 A ributive
When something is a ributive‚ it means that it is essentially doing what an adjective does: it a ributes some quality to a noun. One of the ﬁrst mistakes (and arguably one of the biggest) made by beginning students is saying something like:
たの
楽しいでした。 To mean “it was fun”.More grammar — § 3. For verbal adjectives this seems fairly obvious‚ but for verbs‚ things are no diﬀerent:
ひと
いい人です。 “(he/she/it) is (a/the) good person. For verbs and verbal adjectives‚ the 連体形 is a ributive by its very deﬁnition (it is the “a ributive” base).1. Try‚ very hard‚ not to make this mistake.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
noun
ともだち
83
meaning
polite present noun + です 友達 + です 家 + です
polite past noun + でした 友達 + でした 家 + でした
友達
いえ
friend house
家
For verbal adjectives‚ we also use です‚ but unlike nouns‚ verbal adjectives inﬂect to show tense‚ rather than です:
adjective 高い 楽しい 薄い 遅い polite present 連体形 + です 高い + です 楽しい + です 薄い + です 遅い + です polite past past tense + です 高かった + です 楽しかった + です 薄かった + です 遅かった + です
A cautionary note: many beginning students of Japanese make the mistake of forge ing that verbal adjectives are verbal‚ and are themselves inﬂected‚ rather than using です for tense. Remember for verbal adjectives “inﬂect ﬁrst‚ then add です for politeness”‚ not “add です ﬁrst‚ then inﬂect”. Verbs‚ verbal adjectives and nouns can all do this‚ but they do so in diﬀerent ways.
3.

”
For nouns‚ things are a li le trickier. There are two classes of nouns‚ namely the ones we already saw in the previous chapter‚ linking up using の‚ and “noun adjectives”‚ which are nouns denoting qualities or aspects‚ and are used in combination with the 連体形for だ‚ な‚ as a ributives:
へや
きれいな部屋です。 “(this/it) is (a) clean/tidy room. There are three word classes that can do this‚ namely the verbal adjectives‚ the noun “adjectives” (the ones that take な) and‚ of course‚ true adverbs. Sometimes you can guess‚ based on the fact that the noun marks some quality or aspect‚ but often you cannot. On their own‚ the qualities in these two sentences would be “きれいだ”‚ “is clean”‚ and 静かだ‚ “is quiet”. When we wish to use these a ributively‚ we must change だ from its 終止形‚ or ﬁnalising form‚ to 連体形‚ which is the a ributive form.”
.1. Sadly‚ without any prior knowledge it is essentially impossible to tell whether a noun will require の or な when it is being linked with other nouns.3 Adverbial
In addition to the a ributive‚ which a ributes qualities to nouns‚ there are adverbs‚ which a ribute qualities to verb actions.”
しず ひと
静かな人です。 “(he/she/it) is (a/the) quiet person.
3.84
の
More grammar — § 3.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections コーヒーを飲む人です。 “(he/she/it)’s (a/the) coﬀee drinking person.” The reason for this is that we want to use the qualities that these nouns express a ributively. True adverbs are easy‚ since they do exactly what you’d expect:
ほん よ
本を読みます。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) read(s) (a) book(s). So: きれいだ →きれいな[noun] 静かだ → 静かな[noun] For these kind of nouns‚ using の as in “きれいの[noun]” or “静かの[noun]” would be incorrect‚ because の is not used to a ribute qualities.

To illustrate this‚ two sentences:
かんぜん ま
完全に負ける。
. However‚ when the noun is a true noun‚ に does something very diﬀerent.”
はや
In this sentence‚ the adjective 速い‚ ‘fast’ (not to be confused with 早い‚ ‘early’)‚ is turning into the adverb ‘quickly’ by using its 連用形. We can achieve the same eﬀect of qualifying the verb action by using verbal adjectives in 連用形 form:
なお
直します。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) will ﬁx (it). With noun adjectives‚ which do not inﬂect but must be paired up with the right particle to show their use in a sentence‚ we must use に‚ instead of な‚ to use them as adverbial words:
わ
分ける。 “divide (up).1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
85
ときどき
時々本を読みます。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) sometimes read(s) (a) book(s).” Here‚ the adverb 時々‚ ‘sometimes’‚ also wri en 時時 (the symbol 々 indicates kanji repetition) qualiﬁes the action of reading to apply only sometimes‚ rather than in general. When used with quality or aspect nouns (and noun adjectives in general)‚ using に leads to the noun being interpreted as a verb detail‚ which we grammatically term as being used adverbially.”
はや
速く直します。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) will ﬁx (it) quickly.More grammar — § 3.” きれいに分ける “divide cleanly/neatly” You might recognise this に from the section on verb particles from the previous chapter.

g.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections 友達に負ける。
The ﬁrst sentence has a noun that describes an aspect‚ 完全‚ meaning ‘complete’.86
ともだち
More grammar — § 3.
3.” Here‚ the noun 負け‚ “loss”‚ comes from the 一段 verb 負ける‚ “to lose”.” So be careful. If the noun you’re using is not a noun ‘adjective’‚ you can quite easily say something completely diﬀerent from what you intended to say.1.‚ of a lake)
高い
ふか
深い
. Thus‚ because it is paired with に‚ this noun is being used as an adverb to 負 ける‚ ‘lose’. Both 一段 and 五段 verbs follow this rule. By using its 連用形‚ it can be used as a noun in a sentence.4 Noun forms
Not just nouns can act as nouns: verbs and verbal adjectives‚ too‚ can be inﬂected so that they act like nouns. In the same way that we can either “walk” through a neighbourhood‚ or take “a walk” through a neighbourhood in English‚ so too in Japanese can verbs be used as nouns‚ provided we use their 連用形:
ぼく ま
僕の負けだ。 “(It)’s my loss.g. This sentence translates to “Losing completely”.‚ of a mountain) depth (e. For instance‚ in English we can turn the adjective “deep” into the noun “depth”. This noun is then ambiguous in meaning: do we mean a measurable depth‚ like the depth of a crevasse or a lake‚ or do we mean the immeasurable quality of “depth” of paintings or poetry‚ for instance? In Japanese‚ this ambiguity doesn’t exist‚ because the two diﬀerent interpretations are expressed through diﬀerent noun forms: turning a verbal adjective into a measurable (quantiﬁable) noun requires adding さ to the stem‚ whereas turning it into an immeasurable (qualifying) noun requires adding み to the stem:
adjective
たか
meaning high deep
quantiﬁed noun 高さ 深さ
meaning height (e. On the other hand‚ 友 達 does not describe a quality or aspect‚ it just means ‘friend(s)’. For verbal adjectives‚ things are a bit more complicated‚ because using an adjective as a noun requires you to know what kind of noun you want to use. As such‚ when it is paired with に it becomes a verb detail: “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) lost to (my‚ your‚ his‚ her‚ our‚ their) friend(s).

More grammar — § 3.
かた
More noun forms: 連用形 + 方
A more subtle noun form for verbs is the “way of doing …” noun form. The よさ (良さ) form exists‚ but よみ does not‚ and rather than some よ気‚
げ
there is 良さ気.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
adjective 高い 深い meaning high deep qualiﬁed noun 高み 深み meaning height (e. To use this in a sentence‚ it is used as a noun adjective (as 気 itself is a noun adjective):
adjective
さむ
meaning cold dangerous ﬁrm‚ honest
impression noun
さむけ
meaning the sense/feeling of being cold
寒い
あぶ
寒気
あぶ げ
危ない
かた
危な気
かたぎ
the sense/feeling of danger instilling a sense/feeling of honesty
堅い
堅気
There are two notes to this scheme.
.‚ of an achievement or position) depth (e.g. Secondly‚ the two irregular verbal adjectives‚ いい and ない‚ have their own forms. The most important one is: “this does not apply to all adjectives”. For instance‚ “the way one reads” in English is a full noun phrase‚ but in Japanese it’s a compound noun consisting of the verb “read” in 連用形‚ paired with the noun 方 (pronounced か
よ
た in this use) meaning “way”. For ない‚ there is no なさ‚ except in the pa ern なさそう‚ which will be treated in the section on impressions and likeness‚ and there are no み or 気 variants either.g.‚ of a poem or painting)
87
In addition to these two‚ there’s also け‚ げ or き (all pronunciations for 気)‚ which instead of creating a quantiﬁed noun or qualiﬁed noun‚ creates a noun that stands for “having the impression of”. That may sound odd‚ but it comes down to the fact that while grammatically these rules are valid for all verbal adjectives‚ Japanese has been in use for many centuries and verbal adjectives for which this kind of nominalising made sense have long since been accepted as words on their own‚ while verbal adjectives for which this nominalising was simply not required simply aren’t accepted as natural speech when you use them. Thus‚ 読む‚ meaning “read”‚ becomes 読み方‚ meaning “way of reading”.

88
はし つか な
More grammar — § 3.” The verb “to use”‚ 使う‚ is a transitive verb‚ and since transitive verbs have their direct object marked with を‚ the subphrase “to use chopsticks” could be お箸を 使う.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
ひと むずか
お箸の使い方に慣れてない人に 難 しいです。 “It’s hard for people who aren’t used to the ”way of using“ chopsticks. While not in use in standard Japanese‚ this use is still prevalent in several modern Japanese dialects‚ such as Kansaiben.1. In addition to the helper adjective of negation‚ な い‚ there is a classical helper verb of negation‚ ぬ‚ which is used quite frequently in formal speech (in its 連用形 form ず) and even more often in daily speech as part of the polite negation in the form of ん at the end of ま せん.
3. The diﬀerence is the following‚ noting the placement of the brackets: (お箸を使い)方 The way of ‘using chopsticks’ お箸の(使い方) The ‘way of using’‚ for chopsticks Both express the same idea‚ but the emphasis in the ﬁrst sentence lies on the fact that it’s about using chopsticks‚ while the emphasis in the second sentence simply lies with the ‘way of using’ something‚ which in this case happens to be chopsticks. However‚ since both お箸 and 使い方 are nouns‚ we can also choose to use の to link them together.
.5 More negatives
The basic negative form was already discussed in the previous chapter‚ but it only covered one of the two plain negative forms‚ and didn’t cover polite negative forms at all. In addition to this‚ it is used for the negative of the helper verb of politeness‚ ます‚ to form its (polite by very deﬁnition) negative form ません. Let us ﬁrst look at the second plain negative form ﬁrst.
bases 連用形 連体形 已然形 form ず ん (ぬ) ね
Technically‚ the 連体形 for this classical helper verb can be placed at the end of any verb’s 未然形‚ to form a curt negative.

3.” 朝ご飯を食べずに来ます。 “I will come (over) without eating (my) breakfast.” In this sentence‚ the phrase 朝ご飯を食べず acts as adverb to 来ました‚ so that we can say that “きました is performed in an 朝ご飯を食べなかった manner”. In this sentence‚ ず itself has no temporal aspect‚ so it gets its tense from whatever follows. First oﬀ‚ ます. To illustrate this‚ an example:
あさ はん た き
朝ご飯を食べずに来ました。 “I came (over) without eating (my) breakfast. As such‚ present or past tense comes from the ﬁnal verb: 朝ご飯を食べずに来ました。 “I came (over) without eating (my) breakfast.1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
89
The 連用形 form‚ ず‚ is used frequently to form a rather special kind of word: the adverbial negative.6 Basic inﬂections summarised
With the knowledge of what ん does‚ we can now (ﬁnally) look at the complete inﬂection schemes in terms of plain and polite‚ present and past‚ and aﬃrmative and negative forms.” This is considered an elegant form of negation‚ and is in formal and semiformal se ings preferred to the negative continuative for ない‚ which for our example sentence would be: 朝ご飯を食べなくて来ました。 “I didn’t eat (my) breakfast and came (over).1. since ます is inherently polite‚ it only has four forms we need to know:
aﬃrmative present past ます まし + た negative ませ + ん ませ + ん + でした
. Added to a verb’s 未然形‚ and paired with に (as it acts as a noun adjective) it turns the verb action into a ‘not-taken’ verb action instead.” We will look at continuative forms that use this ‘て’ in detail later in this chapter‚ when looking at continuatives.More grammar — § 3.

1 Revisits and simple inﬂections
Second‚ です. First‚ いい (which is really よい):
.
aﬃrmative present past だ だった negative じゃない(です) ではない(です) じゃなかった(です) ではなかった(です)
Next up are the verbal adjectives. It will make the inﬂection more polite than plain form‚ but not as polite as the corresponding negative form for です itself. However‚ because the negative forms rely on ない‚ and because ない is a verbal adjective‚ this copula can also be made polite (at least for its negative forms) by adding です. This too is inherently polite‚ so again we see four forms‚ two of which are contractions with a corresponding full form:
aﬃrmative present past です でした negative じゃありません ではありません じゃありませんでした ではありませんでした
Then‚ だ. As this is the plain counterpart to です‚ it has no inherent politeness forms‚ although two forms are contractions with a corresponding full form. This leads to the following inﬂection table:
aﬃrmative present plain polite polite (2) plain polite polite (2) 連体形 連体形 + です 連用形 + あった (c) 連用形 + あった (c) + です
negative 未然形 + ない 未然形 + ない + です 連用形 + ありません 未然形 + なかった 未然形 + なかった + です 連用形 + ありません + でした
past
In this table‚ (c) has been used to indicate that a contraction occurs.90
More grammar — § 3. For completeness‚ the two irregular verbal adjectives get their own tables. Verbal adjectives have one polite aﬃrmative form‚ using です‚ and two polite negative forms‚ because we can either use ない‚ or the polite counterpart to ない: ありません (the polite negative form of the verb あ る).

spring had arrived properly”‚ the comma between ‘the birds are singing’ and ‘the ﬂowers are blooming’ acts as a conjunctive‚ as does the semi-colon between ‘the ﬂowers are blooming’ and ‘spring had arrived’.2 Further inﬂections 3.”
. For instance‚ in the English sentence “The birds are singing‚ the ﬂowers are blooming.1 Conjunctive
Conjunctives are words or constructions that join up two or more phrases.2 Further inﬂections Then‚ the 一段 verbs‚ including 来る
aﬃrmative present past plain polite plain polite 連体形 連用形 + ます 連用形 + た 連用形 + ました negative 未然形 + ない 連用形 + ません 未然形 + なかった 連用形 + ませんでした
(The stem for 来る changes: its 連体形 is く‚ its 連用形 is き‚ and its 未然形 is こ .2. In Japanese‚ this particular kind of conjunction can be done in a remarkably simple way: each sentence that is to be “conjoined” with the next has its ﬁnal verb put in 連用形‚ and we’re done:
とり な
鳥が鳴く。 “(The) birds sing.
3.however‚ inﬂection uses the same rules) And ﬁnally‚ the irregular verb する:
aﬃrmative present past plain polite plain polite 連体形 連用形 + ます 連用形 + た 連用形 + ました negative し-未然形 + ない 連用形 + ません し-未然形 + なかった 連用形 + ませんでした
And so‚ with these basic inﬂection tables ﬁnally complete‚ we can move on to genuinely new inﬂections‚ to examine the rest of what can be done with verbs and verbal adjectives in the Japanese language.92
く
More grammar — § 3.

”
. However‚ it should be noted that the real meaning is just a comma or a semi-colon: since this construction creates a sentence where the second part of the full sentence is merely a continuation of a story started in the ﬁrst part‚ there is no real “and” to speak of.” “(The) birds are singing and (the) ﬂowers are blooming.” “(The) birds are singing and (the) ﬂowers are blooming and spring has arrived.” For added emphasis‚ we can also place a Japanese comma after each of the conjoined sentences: 鳥が鳴き、花が咲き、春が来た。 While not required for the sentence to be grammatically correct‚ the addition of a comma can make a sentence easier to read. As such the following translations are all possible‚ but not all of them sound like natural English.2 Further inﬂections
はな さ
93
花が咲く。 “(The) ﬂowers bloom.”
はる き
春が来た。 “Spring is here. spring has arrived.” “(The) birds are singing‚ (the) ﬂowers are blooming and spring has arrived. Typically in English the word “and” will look like it belongs there‚ but you should remember that the Japanese sentence only faintly implies it. When translating this kind of conjoined sentence‚ one can usually either use a comma‚ or the conjunctive “and”.” If we change the ﬁnal verbs in the ﬁrst two sentence from 連体形 to 連用形‚ then we can join them up to form the translation for our original English sentence: 鳥が鳴き花が咲き春が来た。 “(The) birds are singing‚ (the) ﬂowers are blooming. spring has arrived. 鳥が鳴き花が咲き春が来た。 “(The) birds are singing‚ (the) ﬂowers are blooming.More grammar — § 3. spring is here.

94
More grammar — § 3.e.
. This is a good reminder that while the grammar explains forms‚ it doesn’t necessarily explain semantics (i.2 Further inﬂections
A further note on translating “and”: even though a Japanese conjunction can be translated to “… and …”‚ going the other way — from English to Japanese — typically means you cannot translate “and” with this 連用形 construction.‚ the actual intended meaning). In addition to this conjoining of sentences‚ the 連用形 conjunctive also works for certain word combinations‚ which we shall look at here. Be careful when creating your own compound verbs . This takes two verbs‚ and forms a compound verb with them‚ by placing the ﬁrst verb in 連用形 and combining it with the second verb in its normal form. There are plenty of examples to choose from for this type of conjunction:
ﬁrst verb
と
second verb
だ
compound verb 飛び出す‚ “come ﬂying out” 歩き回る‚ “walk around in circles”
飛ぶ‚ “ﬂy”
ある
出す‚ “take out”
まわ
歩く‚ “walk”
回る‚ “go round”‚ “turn”
When verbs are conjoined this way‚ it is quite common for the okurigana (the hiragana that indicates inﬂection on verbs and verbal adjectives) of the ﬁrst verb to be omi ed: 飛び出す may be wri en as 飛出す‚ but is still pronounced とびだす‚ and 歩き回る may be wri en as 歩回る but is still pronounced あるきまわる.
Verb/verb conjunctions
The most common conjunction is the verb/verb conjunction. A lot of the time‚ compound verbs created this way have a meaning which is readily guessable.it’s not unlikely you will come up with a combination that already means something else in some subtle‚ or even not so subtle way. The reason for this is that conjunction is a very speciﬁc thing‚ whereas the word “and” performs many roles in English:
“I ate breakfast and went to school” “I bought juice and tomatos” “It’s my car‚ and don’t you forget it” serial action noun list emphatic
Typically‚ when you encounter “and” in an English sentence‚ the Japanese sentence (unless you’re translating to formal Japanese) will not have it mapped to a 連用形 construction. However‚ sometimes the compound verb is one that’s been in use for ages and its meaning has changed over time.

2 Further inﬂections
95
Common conjunctions
There are a few common verbs which‚ when used in this fashion‚ add a speciﬁc meaning to the compound. These are:
なお
直す — ‘Fix’‚ ‘correct’‚ ‘repair’
Used as second verb in a verb/verb compound‚ this verb creates a “to re-[…]” verb‚ such as:
original verb
か
meaning write do
joined verb 書き直す やり直す
meaning rewrite redo‚ do over
書く
やる
こ
込む — ‘Crowd’‚ ‘ﬁll up’
This verb helps create compound verbs that calls forth a mental image of something going into something else‚ such as something being ﬁlled up‚ something entering something else‚ or even something being invested in something else.More grammar — § 3. A few examples are:
original verb
い
meaning say understand
joined verb 言い切る 分かり切る
meaning declare‚ assert to fully understand
言う
わ
分かる
. Examples of this are:
original verb
はい
meaning enter roll‚ wind
joined verb 入り込む 巻き込む
meaning go into (someone’s) house/room become involved/entangled in
入る
ま
巻く
き
切る — ‘Cut’
Used in compounds‚ 切る can mean anything from cu ing physically to cu ing conceptually‚ such as cu ing oﬀ someone’s speech‚ cu ing a meeting short‚ or doing nothing but that one thing (which can be thought of as cu ing oﬀ any other action).

. most things that are “hard to …” in modern Japanese will use the にくい
あ がた
reading. And of course the same goes for 難い:
い にく こと
言い難い事。 Something that is hard to say. For instance‚ if a book is easy to read‚ then this can be said in Japanese by combining the
よ
verb for reading‚ 読む‚ with the adjective easy‚ 易い‚ to form 読み易い‚ meaning “easy to read”.96
だ
More grammar — § 3.‚ to start talking)
思う
い
言う
Verb/adjective conjunctions
There are three adjectives that are commonly used in verb/adjective compounds‚ beやす にく がた
ing 易い‚ 難い and 難い‚ used to mean “easy to …” and “hard to …” (twice). (literally: “a hard-to-say thing”) Unlike the verb/verb conjunctions‚ this type of conjunction never drops the verb’s okurigana. While both にくい and がたい signify “hard to …”‚ にくい is a more modern reading.e. Examples of the がたい reading are found in for instance 有り難い‚ which is commonly known as paired with the verb ございます‚ with which it becomes あり がとうございます‚ meaning “thank you”.2 Further inﬂections
出す — ‘Come out’
When used in compounds‚ 出す roughly speaking indicates the inverse of 込む‚ signifying something is going or coming out of something else. This can be objects from a container‚ words from a mouth‚ or even thoughts from a cloudy mind:
original verb
おも
meaning think say
joined verb 思い出す 言い出す
meaning to suddenly remember to break the ice (i. In English this is a noun phrase‚ but in Japanese this is still an adjective‚ and can be used to describe objects‚ such as for instance:
よ ほん
読み易い本。 An easy to read book.

By combining a verb in 連用 形‚ which we know can act as a noun on its own‚ with another noun‚ we can form a new compound noun. bus stop)
3.
bases 未然形 連用形 終止形 連体形 已然形 命令形
form て て つ つ (or る) つれ てよ
For 五段 verbs‚ the combination of 連用形 with て leads to contracted forms in modern Japanese‚ with diﬀerent contractions occurring for the diﬀerent 五段 verbs‚ just like for the plain past tense た. This inﬂection is used for at least three things in Japanese‚ of which verb chaining is probably the most frequently used.2 Further inﬂections
97
Verb/noun conjunctions
This conjunction is a very nice one‚ because it shows an elementary simplicity in the creation of some of Japanese’s nouns: compounding.More grammar — § 3. Aside from this‚ it is also used to issue (implied) imperatives‚ and it can be used in combination with several special verbs to create special constructions.2 Continuative: て form
The continuative in Japanese is also commonly referred to as the “て form”‚ because it relies on the 連用形 of the classical helper verb for completion‚ つ‚ which is て. This particular conjunction can be seen in some words that one would not immediately think of as compound nouns:
verb
き
meaning wear (on the body) board‚ get on
noun
もの
meaning thing place
conjunction
きもの
meaning kimono
着る
の
物
ば
着物
の ば
乗る
場
乗り場
a stop (i.2. The following table again lists which contractions occur‚ and what the “change rule” is:
.e.

This is a consequence of using て: while つ itself is the classical helper verb for verb completion‚ its 連用形 means there is no indication in which way the action has been completed. To indicate the particular completion‚ the last verb is placed in whichever form is required‚ and this form then applies to all previous verbs in て form.” (‘read’ is past tense in this sentence)
Verbal adjective continuative
Verbal adjectives‚ too‚ can be chained in this way by using their 連用形 + て:
adjective 高い 楽しい 薄い 大きい よい (いい) ない
て form 高く + て 楽しく + て 薄く + て 大きく + て よく + て なく + て
.2 Further inﬂections
99
from the plain 連用形. For instance‚ the following two sentences say diﬀerent things‚ in terms of which actions follow which other actions:
あさ はん た がっこう い じゅぎょう で
朝ご飯を食べて、学校に行って、 授業 に出ました。 “(I) had breakfast‚ went oﬀ to school and went to class. Rather than simply joining sentences in such a way that there’s no order in which verb actions take place‚ the て form explicitly preserves the order in which the actions occur. You may have noticed that in these two sentences only the last verb in the sentence has an inﬂection indicating tense (present/past) and polarity (aﬃrmative/ negative).” These are two very diﬀerent ways of spending one’s morning.” 本を読んで音楽を聞きました。 “(I) read a book and listened to music.More grammar — § 3. To illustrate:
ほん よ おんがく き
本を読んで音楽を聞きます。 “(I) read a book and listen to music.” 学校に行って、授業に出て、朝ご飯を食べました。 “(I) went oﬀ to school‚ went to class and had breakfast.

To illustrate‚ the following sentence is entirely in past tense aﬃrmative:
はこ
大きくて赤くて重かった箱です。 “(It) was a big‚ red‚ heavy box.:
おお あか おも ほん
これは大きくて赤くて重い本です。 “This is a big‚ red‚ heavy book.2 Further inﬂections This lets us write the previous “book” sentence in the following manner‚ using
おお あか おも
the adjectives 大きい‚ big‚ 赤い‚ red and 重い‚ heavy.” To make everything negative‚ we take the plain negative form of adjectives‚ ending on ない‚ and simply use ない’s て form: 大きくなくて赤くなくて重い本です。 “(It)’s a not big‚ not red‚ heavy book.100
More grammar — § 3.” Of course‚ since they’re both just て forms‚ we can even mix the two:
はこ
大きくて赤くなくて重かった箱です。 “(It) was a big‚ not red‚ heavy box.” Just like with verbs‚ the actual inﬂection of the adjectives in て is determined by the ﬁnal adjective.”
Noun continuative
For nouns‚ which rely on copulae for inﬂections‚ we do not use the 連用形 for つ‚ but instead rely on the 連用形 for です‚ which is で:
.” This “placing ない in て form” to form the negative て form for verbal adjectives also applies to verbs‚ by ﬁrst forming their plain negative form‚ 未然形 + ない‚ and then turning this negative into a て form:
た かえ
食べなくて帰りました。 “(I) didn’t eat‚ and went home.

”
た かえ
食べないで帰りました。 “(I) didn’t eat‚ (then) went home.” As with the verbal て form‚ tense and polarity are expressed by the ﬁnal verbal (which can be either a verb‚ verbal adjective or a copula)‚ so that if we want to place
あか
the previous sentence in past tense‚ we need only change the tense for 明るい: きれいで、明るかった部屋です。 “(It) was a tidy‚ bright room.More grammar — § 3. for a chaining with an implied contrast of sorts‚ なくて is typically preferred. the other is ない + 連用形 of です‚ giving us ない で instead.” As mentioned in the section on negatives in this chapter‚ the negative con-
.” (real contrast‚ explicit “rather than X‚ Y instead” connotation) Of course this continuative also works for verbal adjectives and verbs in plain negative form‚ as these end on ない:
おお あか おも はこ
大きくて赤くないで重かった箱です。 “(It) was a big‚ not red‚ heavy box. Both are used‚ but depending on the speaker’s intention‚ one is usually preferred over the other. One is the regular て form‚ なくて. To illustrate: きれいじゃないで、明るい部屋です。 “(it) is a not (so) tidy‚ (but) bright room.” The negative form for this continuative uses じゃない (or ではない)‚ which due to it ending on ない uses the adjectival て form. For regular chaining‚ ないで tends to be preferred.2 Further inﬂections
あか へや
101
きれいで、明るい部屋です。 “A tidy‚ bright room. So far so good‚ but this is where things get a li le complicated: because ない is a verbal adjective‚ and verbal adjectives can be paired with です‚ we can actually choose between two “て” forms.” (no real contrast‚ although in English the phrasing makes it sound like one)
しず にぎ くうき
静かじゃなくて、賑やかな空気でした。 “Rather than quiet‚ it was a very lively atmosphere.

The table of which combinations can imply which constructions is as follows:
. For actual Japanese that reﬂects this English sentence‚ we must use the following: 食べずに学校へ行って、バスを乗らずに着きました。 In the て form sentence‚ we’re chaining four diﬀerent actions‚ namely not eating‚ going‚ not boarding‚ and arriving. However‚ in this sentence using -ずに we are listing just two actions‚ and both of these are adverbially constrained: 食べずに行く is “going without eating” and バスを乗らずに着く is “arriving without having taken the bus”. Chaining many aﬃrmative and negative verb actions using the negative て form is possible‚ while 未然形+ずに doesn’t allow you to ‘chain’:
い の つ
食べなくて学校へ行ってバスを乗らなくて着きました。 食べないで学校へ行ってバスを乗らないで着きました。 “[I] didn’t eat‚ went to school‚ didn’t take the bus and arrived. Using these two verbs as helper verbs lets us turn any verb into a resultant state‚ a present progressive form or an habitual act‚ depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive‚ and whether we use ある or いる.102
More grammar — § 3.2.2 Further inﬂections
tinuative ないで/なくて is actually similar in role to using a verbal 未然形 + ず + に‚ meaning “without …”‚ but there is the subtle diﬀerence: ないで is a verb form‚ while -ずに is an adverbial form.3 Special て form conjunctions
We’re not quite done with the て form yet‚ because there are a number of special て form combinations with verbs that should not be taken literally‚ but should be considered idiomatic: they mean something diﬀerent from what the used words would normally imply themselves.” We can interpret this sentence as the more natural sounding “I went to school without eating and (then) arrived without taking the bus.
Special conjunctions: ている/てある
Combining the て form with ある and いる profoundly changes the verb’s meaning in terms of its grammatical role.” but this misrepresents the actual Japanese‚ which chains four verb phrases. These combinations only work for verbs in て form‚ and do not apply to verbal adjectives in て form or nouns followed by で (or ないで).
3.

Progressive 3. Both these
. Examples of this “resultant state” are for instance:
はず
ボタンが外してある。 “The bu on is (in an) unfastened (state) (because someone unfastened it). Habitual 2. Thus‚ even if the something or someone that performs the verb is left oﬀ‚ the fact that a transitive verb was used is in itself enough to tell us that something or someone must have performed it.2 Further inﬂections
て+ある transitive 1.More grammar — § 3. Habitual 2. Progressive 1.”
くるま と
車 が止めてある。 “The car is (in a) stopped (state) (because someone stopped it). Another diﬀerence is that while て+ある can only be used to create a resultant state‚ て+いる can also be used to create the progressive verb form‚ as well as to indicate a habitual action. Resultant state
103
intransitive
Looking at the table‚ we see that the て+ある form is used to indicate that something is in a particular state‚ and that this state was caused by someone or something. The reason for this is the fact that a transitive verb is used as basis: a transitive verb describes an action being performed by something or someone. On the other hand‚ the resultant state that is created using the て+いる form does not imply this additional “someone did it”‚ because it uses an intransitive verb instead‚ which merely passively describes the current state of the world without any implications of how it might have come to be this way: ボタンが外している。 “The bu on is (in an) unfastened (state)” 車が止まっている。 “The car is (in a) stopped (state).” One principal diﬀerence is that while て+ある operates on transitive verbs for resultant state‚ て+いる operates on intransitive verbs. Resultant state (implying something or someone caused the state) (impossible combination) て+いる 1.” This construction describes the state of something‚ just like a normal intransitive verb would‚ but also implies that someone is responsible for this state.

104
More grammar — § 3.” Form: transitive progressive
しんぶん よ
よく新聞を読んでいます。 “(I) frequently read the newspaper.2 Further inﬂections
forms can be made with either transitive or intransitive verbs:
えいが み
いま映画を見ています。 “(I) am watching a ﬁlm right now.” Form: intransitive habitual To make sure there’s no mistakes possible: て+ある/ て+いる can both do resultant state‚ but they operate on transitive and intransitive verbs‚ respectively: “Aru‚ TrAnsitive . Colloquially‚ the て+いる form is often shortened by dropping the い‚ to create て+る instead. These two constructions stand for a gradual process directed either towards the speaker in some way‚ or heading away from the speaker in some way. This means that the following two sentences are technically the same‚ but the ﬁrst is formal‚ and the second less formal:
なに
何をしていますか。 何をしてますか。 “What are [you] doing?”
Special conjunctions: ていく/てくる
い く
Another important pair is the て+行く/て+来る pair‚ where 行く is sometimes written or pronounced as ゆく instead (this is not wrong‚ but simply an older‚ alternate way to write and say 行く‚ used a lot in songs‚ poetry and still commonly used in many dialects).Iru‚ Intransitive”. In addition to this‚ て+ いる can also signify progressive state and habitual form of any verb. This towards/away can be either a physical process or an abstract process such as “it feels like her mind is slowly slipping away”:
.” Form: intransitive progressive
きし
そのドアがよく軋っています。 “That door often creaks.” Form: transitive habitual act
まど
窓が開いています。 “(The) window is opening.

” When used in this way‚ 来る or 行く are usually wri en くる and いく instead of using kanji.”
はる
春になってきた。 “It has (gradually) become spring. Note that these “gradual process” interpretations do not always apply.”
.” As ‘do and come back’: “(I’m) going out (to do something‚ and will then come back) now. Fuji is (gradually) coming into view. Note that a verb can sometimes be interpreted in two or three ways:
と
飛んできた。 Interpreted normally: “(He) came ﬂying over.” As a gradual process: “It came ﬂying into view.”
ふじさん み
富士山が見えてきます。 “Mt.”
いま で
今出てきます。 As a gradual process: “It’s coming out (into view) right now. For instance‚ […]て+くる is also a common pa ern used in combination with activity
か
verbs to indicate “てくる”.More grammar — § 3. For example‚ 買ってくる means “going to buy something (and then come back afterwards)” or 行ってくる means “going (somewhere) (and then coming back after whatever one had to do there is done)”.”
Special conjunctions: てください
This construction signiﬁes a semi-formal request‚ something which we will look at in more detail when treating verbs for giving and receiving in the chapter on language
くだ
pa erns. For now it suﬃces to say that using て+下さい turns a verb into a polite command or request:
まど あ
窓を開けて下さい。 “Please open the window.2 Further inﬂections
よる
105
夜になっていく。 “It’s (gradually) becoming night.

” In this line‚ it should be obvious why the fact that 壊せる‚ “break”‚ having been completed is a bad thing. Colloquially‚ て + しまう can be contracted into ちまう or ちゃう‚ (with で + し まう contracting to じまう or じゃう respectively) resulting‚ for instance‚ in:
きょうかしょ わす
あっ、教科書を忘れちゃった。 “Ah! (I) forgot (my) textbook…” Again‚ it is clear that 忘れる‚ “forget”‚ is a bad or regre able thing when completed‚ especially in relation to needing your textbook in class.
. It lacks an adequate corresponding construction in English‚ but indicates that some action has been irrevocably performed.”
Special conjunctions: てしまう
The construction て+しまう is a very interesting construction. This can either be a good thing (“we are done working on this project”)‚ a bad thing (“I broke the radio…”) or something of which one might wish it wasn’t irrevocable (“I ﬁnished reading this series of books… I wish there were more”). Because of this‚ translations for this construction are highly context sensitive:
い
ああ、言ってしまった…… “Oh (man)‚ now (you)’ve said it…” literally: “Ah‚ you’ve said it (even though it would have been be er if you hadn’t‚ but you can’t take it back now)”
One can expect to hear something like this when someone says something that everyone knows‚ but no one had dared say because of the repercussions‚ such as telling the boss that everyone in his department is be er suited for his job than he is.106
た
More grammar — § 3.
こわ
ラジオを壊せてしまった。 “(I) broke the radio… (and that’s something I wish I hadn’t).2 Further inﬂections 食べて下さい。 “Please eat (this).

2 Further inﬂections
107
Special conjunctions: ておく
お
Also important is the て+おく construction. On its own‚ the verb 置くmeans “to put [something] [somewhere]”‚ but when paired with a verb in て form‚ it creates a construction meaning “to do something with the intention of leaving it that way [for whatever reason]”.”
Special conjunctions: てみる
Another construction that changes the meaning of the suﬃxed verb is the て+みる form.” literally: “but (it/I) was no good at all. In this case‚ the “to see what happens” is probably related to “seeing if you like it”.” This sentence uses the て form of おく for a polite command (using 下さい)‚ and asks for the lights to be turned on without there being a need for them to be on right now‚ other than it saving having to turn them on later. Literally this sentence would read “Please turn on the lights and leave them that way”.More grammar — § 3.
じてんしゃ の ぜんぜん
自転車を乗ってみましたが全然だめでした。 “(I) tried to ride a bicycle‚ but failed horribly. みる (見る) alone means “to see”‚ but suﬃxed to て forms‚ this construction means “to do … to see what it’s like” or “to do … to see what happens”:
すし た
寿司を食べてみませんか。 “Won’t (you) try eating (some) sushi?” Here a negative question is asked as a more polite way of oﬀering a suggestion‚ and the 食べてみます part stands for “trying to eat‚ to see what happens”. This may sound a bit cryptic‚ so let’s look at an example for clariﬁcation:
でんき つ くだ
電気を付けておいて下さい。 “Please turn on the lights.”
. Colloquially‚ the combination of て+お is often changed to と instead‚ so the following two sentences are the same‚ except that the ﬁrst is more formal‚ and the second more colloquial:
まど あ
窓を開けておきます。 窓を開けときます。 “(I)’ll open the windows (now‚ rather than having to do it later when it becomes genuinely necessary).

Instead‚ the classical helper verb たり is the one you want to be working with.2 Further inﬂections
Here‚ the act of riding a bicycle was tried to see what would happen‚ but we can conclude from the remainder of the sentence that riding a bike isn’t for this particular speaker. However‚ unlike the て form‚ which can pair up with any ‘ﬁnal verb’ for its inﬂection‚ たり gets its inﬂection speciﬁcally from the verb する‚ meaning “to do”:
きょう がっこう い じゅぎょう で はん た
今日は学校に行ったり、 授業 に出たり、ご飯を食べたりしました。 “Today (I) went to school‚ went to class and ate. Verbs in たり form can also be used on their own in a sentence‚ in which case it translates to “doing things such as”‚ and still get closed oﬀ by する:
きのう ほん よ
昨日、本を読んだりした。 “Yesterday (I) did things like reading a book. we’re literally only summarising activities performed. This verb has the following bases:
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 form たら たり たり たれ たれ
Just like て‚ the 連用形 of たり is used‚ and just like for て and た‚ contractions occur when used with 五段 verbs (with 行く having an irregular contraction‚ and 問う‚ 訪う‚ 乞う and 請う inﬂecting via their 連体形 rather than 連用形).
3.2.4 Representative listing: たり
If‚ instead of chaining‚ you want to only list representative actions for which order doesn’t ma er‚ such as “Today I read my book‚ played some video games and walked the dog” in which you probably did all those things a few times in no real order‚ then the て form is of li le use.” This sentence literally reads “Today I did: going to school‚ going to class‚ eating”‚ without any distinction in which action occurred when‚ in relation to other actions.108
More grammar — § 3.” The negative たり form is constructed by placing a verb in plain negative form ﬁrst (未然形 + ない) and then turning this verbal negative into a たり form by
.

3. It combines in the same way as た‚ て and たり do‚ being added to the 連用形‚ and contracts with 五段 verbs as well as with verbal adjectives:
五段 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ 分かる
conditional 会ったら 歩いたら 急いだら 話したら 死んだら 学んだら 読んだら 待ったら 分かったら
い
Noting the exception for the verb 行く:
Irregular 行く conditional 行ったら
No contractions occur for 一段 verbs:
一段 見る 伸びる 食べる conditional 見たら 伸びたら 食べたら
And the irregular verbs get their own table:
.2 Further inﬂections
109
the same formula: 連用形+たり (with a contraction just as for past tense)‚ forming 未 然形 + なかったり.More grammar — § 3.2.5 Conditional: たら‚ なら
In the same series of inﬂections that contract with 五段 verbs (た‚ て and たり)‚ we
かていけい
ﬁnd たら‚ which is the conditional form‚ or 仮定形‚ for た.

Looking at the previous sentences using this explanation‚ we get some rather conceptual translations:
. In less simple terms‚ the たら construction is a “hypothetical future past”.110
Irregular する 来る ある ます 連用形 し き あり まし conditional したら きたら あったら ましたら
More grammar — § 3.2 Further inﬂections
For verbal adjectives we see contractions:
verbal adjectives 高い 楽しい 薄い 大きい conditional 高かったら 楽しかったら 薄かったら 大きかったら
And for nouns the copulae inﬂect instead:
nouns noun + だ noun + です past tense noun + だったら noun + でしたら
So what does it do? In simple terms‚ this construction sets up an “if …‚ then …” condition:
まち おもしろ みもの
町を歩いたら、面白いお見物をいっぱい見ます。 “If (you) walk around town‚ (you) will see many interesting sights. That is‚ it sets up a hypothetical future in which some action has already been taken‚ about which comments are then made.”
This can also be used for actions that are constrained by some condition‚ such as:
にじかん べんきょう
２時間したら、 勉強 します。 “I’ll go study 2 hours from now”
Here‚ the act of studying is constrained by 2 hours of something else needing to pass ﬁrst.

3.” This explanation doesn’t quite work for noun conditionals‚ which use なら.More grammar — § 3.2. For instance‚ “If you walk around town‚ you will see many interesting sights” is an example of a conditional pertaining to a current situation‚ “If you get ﬁred‚ I’ll quit too” is a conditional pertaining to a hypothetical situation‚ and “If you’re late for the exam‚ you fail it.2 Further inﬂections
111
町を歩いたら、面白いお見物をいっぱい見ます。 “In a future where you are walking around town‚ you see lots of interesting things” ２時間したら、勉強します。 “In a future in which I have spent 2 hours doing (something)‚ I will (then) go study. Of these‚ the ﬁrst uses たら as conditional‚ the second uses the hypothetical construction -えば (explained later in this chapter) and the third uses the simultaneous action marker‚ と (possibly the most abused particle by beginning students)‚ which is explained in the chapter on particles.” is actually not a conditional but a factual statement (“if A‚ then B as well”). This is the 已然形 for the copula だ‚ rather than for the conditional form of the helper verb of past tense‚ and rather than a hypothetical future past‚ is essentially just a plain if[…]then[…] construction:
せんせい
先生ならきっと分かる。 “I’m sure the teacher will understand. Since this is an adjective‚ rather
.6 Desire
First person desirative: たい
Unlike the previous constructions starting with the syllable た‚ this inﬂection doesn’t involve a classical helper verb‚ but a helper adjective‚ たい (which has a kanji form‚ 度 い‚ but this is not used in modern Japanese).” literally: “If the teacher‚ (he/she) will understand.” There are a few more conditionals in Japanese‚ so (much like with “and” and the 連用形) when translating from Japanese to English‚ translating たら with “if … then …” is ﬁne‚ but translating an English sentence that has an if/then construction to Japanese requires ﬁguring out exactly which style of if/then is being used. This also means that unlike the previous -た‚ -て‚ -たり and たら constructions‚ no contractions occur with 五段 verbs‚ which makes forming the ﬁrst person desirative very easy.

To make a statement that expresses desire that is less selﬁsh‚ the Japanese use a construction that expresses “I think I want/would like to …”‚ using the particle
おも
と and the verb 思う‚ which makes the actual desire less strong because it’s only a
.112
More grammar — § 3. The absence of です is easy to explain because it is the copula‚ and one cannot want something to have a particular property in Japanese using the copula (this uses the adjective
ほ
欲しい instead‚ explained later in this section on desiratives).2 Further inﬂections
than a verb‚ it has a slightly diﬀerent set of bases for further conjugation:
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 form たく たく たい たけれ
However‚ as an inﬂection the ﬁrst person desirative is about as simple as it gets‚ pairing with 連用形:
verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ 分かる
ﬁrst person desirative 会い + たい 歩き + たい 急ぎ + たい 話し + たい 死に + たい 学び + たい 読み + たい 待ち + たい 分かり + たい
verb 見る 伸びる 食べる verb する 来る
ﬁrst person desirative 見 + たい 伸び + たい 食べ + たい ﬁrst person desirative し + たい き + たい
You may have noticed that です and ます are not listed here. The absence of a たい form for ます is more subtle: there is no たい form for ます because using たい to express one’s desire is intrinsically selﬁsh‚ and thus mutually exclusive with polite phrasing.

2 Further inﬂections thought‚ rather than a ‘genuine’ desire:
あたら くるま か おも
113
新 しい 車 を買いたいと思います。 “I think I would like to buy a new car. Because of this‚ you cannot say that “Bob wants an apple”‚ because even though he might give oﬀ all the signals that he does‚ and even though he may have said so himself‚ you might still be interpreting the signals wrong‚ and he might have only said he wanted one instead of really wanting one.” This is a very civil way of expressing one’s own desire‚ compared to the plain: 新しい車を買いたい。 “I want to buy a new car. Because of this‚ rather than using たい for second/third person desiratives‚ the classical helper verb たがる is used.” To say one doesn’t want something‚ all we have to do is form the negative of たい‚ which we know is たくない:
きょう なに
今日は何もしたくない。 “I don’t want to do anything today.” Because たい is an adjective‚ it can also be followed by です to make it more polite‚ in which case the translation stays the same‚ but the perceived strength of the desire is tuned down just a bit‚ although not as much as when the desire is turned into a thought using +と+思う: 新しい車を買いたいです。 “I want to buy a new car.
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 form たがら / たがろ たがり / たがつ たがる たがれ
.”
Second and third person desirative: たがる
Because of the way Japanese works‚ and the way the world is interpreted and thought about in the Japanese mindset‚ one never presumes to truly know what’s going on in someone else’s head.More grammar — § 3.

114
More grammar — § 3.” However‚ note that the following is also possible‚ using そう with the 連用形: 君子さんが出たがりそうです。 “It seems Kimiko wants to leave.” When そう follows a 連体形‚ it generally does not mean the same thing as when it follows a 連用形. Not unlike たい‚ たがる can be considered somewhat rude as it presumes to know something about someone else. This construction can be made less rude by adding the noun adjective そう to the 連体形‚ to emphasise that this is merely an impression:
きみこ で
君子さんが出たがるそうです。 “It seems Kimiko wants to leave. Normally‚ そう following a 連体形 expresses a form of hearsay‚ implying the information’s been read somewhere or has been told to the
.2 Further inﬂections
Like たい‚ this form does not suﬀer from contracted inﬂections‚ and is added directly to the 連用形:
verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ 分かる
second/third person desirative 会い + たがる 歩き + たがる 急ぎ + たがる 話し + たがる 死に + たがる 学び + たがる 読み + たがる 待ち + たがる 分かり + たがる
verb 見る 伸びる 食べる
second/third person desirative 見 + たがる 伸び + たがる 食べ + たがる second/third person desirative し + たがる き + たがる
verb する 来る
Again です and ます are missing.

2 Further inﬂections
115
speaker by someone‚ and そう following a 連用形 expresses the concept of something “being at the point of …” or “seeming to be …”.” Note that because these are verbal adjectives‚ we use the particle が‚ not を.More grammar — § 3.” 君子さんが出たがりそうです。 “It seems Kimiko wants to leave (this is my impression‚ because she’s giving oﬀ all the signs of someone who wants to leave). In terms of politeness‚ 欲しい is just as direct and selﬁsh as たい‚ and it can be softened by adding です:
つか
使って欲しい。 “[I] want it made. For instance “I want this door to be red” cannot be expressed with the previous two forms‚ because they cannot express this state‚ but can only express verb actions or processes.”
. To express a state desirative‚ the verbal adjective て form plus the adjective 欲しい‚ a verbal adjective for indicating that something is desirable‚ is used:
あか
このドアが赤くて欲しい。 “(I) want this door red. Even though “desire” is a verb in English‚ it is an adjective in Japanese‚ so rather than saying “I want this door red”‚ the more literally translation would be “this door is (more) desired (when) red”.” The negative form for たがる is a normal verb negative‚ being either たがら ない or たがりません. While generally two diﬀerent things‚ both can be used due to the nature of たがる‚ but the diﬀerent uses have diﬀerence nuances: 君子さんが出たがるそうです。 “It seems Kimiko wants to leave (I know this because she for instance told us‚ or someone else told me this was the case).
ほ
Desiring a particular state: —て欲しい
Unlike the previous two desirative forms‚ there is also the ‘desire for something to be in a particular state’ that was previously hinted at.

2 Further inﬂections 使って欲しいです。 “(I) want it made (being said in a less direct manner than the above sentence)”
Since 欲しい is a normal verbal adjective‚ we can inﬂect it further like any other verbal adjective:
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 form 欲しく 欲しく 欲しい 欲しけれ
3.
Dubitative / cohortative
These forms‚ as mentioned in the outline for Japanese‚ turn the 未然形 into something that ends on an お sound through a contraction. To see why this happens we have to look back at classical Japanese‚ where the combination of an あ—row syllable and an う always changed the pronunciation to that of the corresponding お—row syllable.116
More grammar — § 3. not just for 未然形 constructions‚ but for any wri en combination of the two. The way in which the direct pseudo-future is constructed diﬀers for the two verb classes: 五段 verbs get う added to the 未然形‚ but the combination of the 未然 形 あ—row syllable and the う changes the pronunciation (as well as wri en form) to an お—row syllable instead‚ so か+う becomes こう‚ ま+う becomes もう‚ etc.2.
. While the language reforms of the mid 20th century changed many of the rules for wri en language so that it would correspond to spoken language more‚ constructions involving the 未然形 have generally been left alone (another 未然形 ‘quirk’ can be found in 五段 verbs ending on う‚ which becomes わ rather than あ).7 Pseudo-future: おう/よう
The pseudo-future is used for three things‚ which are called the presumptive (“it’s probably the case that…”)‚ the dubitative (“will/shall …?”) and the cohortative (“let’s …”). There are both a normal and a polite form of this construction‚ with the polite form simply being the verb in polite form‚ with ます turned into a pseudo-future.

”
ひと たぶん せんせい
あの人は多分先生でしょう。 “(he/she)’s probably a teacher.” 海に行こうか。 “Shall [we] go to the beach?” どこでしょうか? “Where could it be?”
ほん おもしろ
あの本は面白いでしょうか。 “(I) wonder if that book (over there) is interesting.118
noun + だ noun + です → → noun + だろう noun + でしょう
More grammar — § 3. While this form uses the 未然形 of the copula verb‚ the verb conjugation itself is actually technically a 連体形 conjugation‚ and therefore is explained in more detail in the section on 連体形.”
.” そうしましょう。 “Let’s do so. For now‚ it suﬃces to say that it lets us say things like “This computer will probably still work” or “I am sure my coﬀee isn’t cold yet” and similar presumptive statements in Japanese:
さ
コーヒーはもう冷めただろう。 “The coﬀee’s probably cold by now.”
Presumptive
The presumptive form uses the pseudo-future of the copulae to turn verbs into presumed acts.2 Further inﬂections
Using the pseudo-future is fairly straight forward:
うみ い
海に行こう。 “Let’s go to the beach.

The following two example sentences should illustrate this quite clearly:
. As a word of caution‚ do not use these last two unless you know why you are using them. Also‚ while “noun + じゃない + なら + ば” is technically a valid negative hypothetical‚ it isn’t really used‚ as the polite form “なら + ば” is considered not to mix with the plain form “じゃない”.2 Further inﬂections
negative hypothetical ませね + ば
For verbal adjectives‚ the same rules apply as for verbs:
adjective 高い 楽しい 薄い 大きい hypothetical 高けれ + ば 楽しけれ + ば 薄けれ + ば 大きけれ + ば negative hypothetical 高くなけれ + ば 楽しくなけれ + ば 薄くなけれ + ば 大きくなけれ + ば
For nouns‚ the hypothetical construction has three possible aﬃrmative versions‚ two using the 已然形 for だ‚ which is なら‚ either with or without ば‚ and a third using a slightly diﬀerent copula: である‚ of which the ある part is the familiar verb.
hypothetical noun + だ noun + です noun + なら noun + なら + ば noun + であれ + ば
negative hypothetical noun + じゃない + なら (noun + じゃない + なら + ば) noun + じゃなけれ (ではなけれ) + ば
Note that the noun + じゃない + なら(ば) forms are possible due to the fact that ない is a verbal adjective. In this case‚ we cannot substitute ありません for ない‚ as this is a normal verb form and can therefore never be (directly) followed by a present tense copula. For the negative: じゃないなら‚ then じゃなければ‚ then ではなければ‚ and then ﬁnally the overly formal じゃありませねば and ではあ りませねば.122 the classical helper verb ぬ:
hypothetical ます ますれ + ば
More grammar — § 3. So which is what? For the aﬃrmative‚ in increasing order of politeness: なら‚ then ならば‚ and then であれば. while it may not be followed by だ‚ it may be followed by なら. How do we interpret the hypothetical? The simplest explanation is that this creates an if/then construction‚ with the note that the speciﬁc type of conditional created is one that is best thought of as meaning “should [X] be the case‚ then [Y]”. They will typically be considered clumsy speech.

”
かね た もの か
お金があれば、おいしい食べ物が買えます。 “If (you) have money‚ (you) can buy delicious food.2 Further inﬂections
よ わ
123
ハイデガーを読めば分かります。 “If (you) read Heidegger‚ (you)’ll understand. The 仮定形 implies neither of these things.” literally: “Should (you) read Heidegger‚ (you)’ll understand.” literally: “Should (you) have money‚ (you) can buy delicious food.” It is important to note that‚ while usually these sentences are translated with “if” or “when” (because they sound more natural than “should”)‚ the real meaning of the 仮定形 is not really “if” or “when”‚ but is really only a hypothetical conditional: “supposing that …” or “should …”.More grammar — § 3. There are a number of ways in which to issue imperative and prohibitive commands‚ and we’ll look at all of these. The ﬁrst states a truth under all circumstances‚ the second gives a possible truth for only one instance.
Imperative commands
Imperative commands are quite easy to form in Japanese: for 五段 verbs‚ simply take the 命令形 and you’re done:
五段 verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ
imperative form 会え 歩け 急げ 話せ 死ね 学べ 読め 待て
.
3.9 Commands
There are two kinds of commands‚ namely imperative commands (things one should do) and prohibitive commands (things one should not do). Similarly‚ “when” carries the implication that something will deﬁnitely happen‚ being only a ma er of time before it does. The danger in using the word “if” lies in the fact that it implies a more general kind of truth: compare “If it rains‚ we get wet” to “assuming that it rains‚ we’ll get wet”.2.

It only has one imperative form:
verb くれる imperative くれ
To illustrate the use of the imperative command‚ some example sentences:
.124
五段 verb 分かる ある ます imperative form 分かれ あれ ませ
More grammar — § 3. However‚ this distinction
ひょうじゅんご
only applies to standard Japanese‚ or 標準語 ‚ which is the “dialect” spoken in the
かんとう
関東 region‚ which is where Tokyo lies. North of this region‚ the -ろ form is typically used to issue imperatives‚ whereas South of this region the -よ form tends to be used instead. If someone says 見ろ‚ you look. For instance‚ if you’re browsing though a dictionary and there is a footnote telling you to see page 214 for further information‚ this will typically use 見よ‚ rather than 見ろ. This verb is part of the set of verbs used in giving and receiving‚ and is thus vitally important to know.2 Further inﬂections
For 一段 verbs there is a bit of choice‚ as one can either use the 命令形 + ろ‚ or the 命令形 + よ‚ depending on how strong the imperative should be:
一段 verb 見る 伸びる 食べる imperative form 見 +ろ 伸び + ろ 食べ + ろ alternative form 見 +よ 伸び + よ 食べ + よ
What is the diﬀerence between these two forms for 一段 verbs? In standard Japanese‚ the -ろ imperative is a true command. Not unexpectedly‚ the irregular verbs have their own 命令形:
verb する 来る imperative しろ こい alternative せよ こよ
However‚ there is also another verb with an irregular commanding form‚
く
namely the 一段 verb 呉れる (usually wri en in hiragana rather than using its kanji form). The second is more of an instruction than a command.

More grammar — § 3. Second‚ it explains why ござる would become ございます: its 連用形 is simply ござい. This verb belongs to a set of verbs with a deviant 連用形 and 命令形‚ so to see how these diﬀer‚ let’s brieﬂy look at the bases for all ﬁve verbs in this set:
くだ
なさる meaning 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 do なさら なさい なさる なされ なさい
下さる
issue 下さら 下さい 下さる 下され 下さい
いらっしゃる be‚ come‚ go いらっしゃら いらっしゃい いらっしゃる いらっしゃれ いらっしゃい
おっしゃる say おっしゃら おっしゃい おっしゃる おっしゃれ おっしゃい
ござる be ござら ござい ござる ござれ ござい
This set tells us several things: ﬁrst‚ it tells us that ください in the special て form -てください is the 命令形 for くださる.2 Further inﬂections
き
125
みんな、よく聞け。 “Everyone‚ listen up!”
はや
速くしろ。 “Hurry up!”
お
もう、起きろ。 “Oh come on‚ wake up already!” There is a second way to issue imperative commands‚ using the verb なさる‚ which is the (normally) honoriﬁc counterpart to the verb する. If we add the 命令形 for なさる‚ なさい‚ to a verb’s 連用形‚ we get a command that is less direct than a plain 命令形 (and thus‚ more formal/polite)‚ but is still a command:
五段 verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む
なさる imperative 会い + なさい 歩き + なさい 急ぎ + なさい 話し + なさい 死に + なさい 学び + なさい 読み + なさい
. Third‚ it tells us what we need to know to form a command using なさる.

adjective 高い 楽しい 薄い 大きい imperative form 高く + あれ 楽しく + あれ 薄く + あれ 大きく + あれ contracted 高かれ 楽しかれ 薄かれ 大きかれ
The same goes for the copula‚ for which we must use である (since neither だ nor です have a commanding form of their own):
copula である imperative form であれ
Prohibitive commands
If you want to tell people to not do something‚ then the form of the command is much simpler: simply add the particle な to the 連体形 of any verb:
. Contracted‚ this is an adverbial statement (速かれ)‚ which has no English equivalent and is thus harder to explain. The diﬀerence is subtle: the uncontracted form is considered an adjectival statement akin in use to‚ for instance‚ the English “be faster!” (in Japanese:
はや はや
速くあれ). For verbal adjectives‚ the idea of an imperative is a bit odd‚ but that doesn’t mean we can’t form one.2 Further inﬂections
一段 verb 見る 伸びる 食べる irregular する 来る
なさる imperative 見 + なさい 伸び + なさい 食べ + なさい なさる imperative し + なさい き + なさい
And ﬁnally‚ ある‚ ます and the copulae do not have this imperative form. We can either leave these as is‚ or contract them. Relying on 連用形 + ある for the inﬂection again‚ we can form the imperative command for verbal adjectives.126
五段 verb 待つ 分かる なさる imperative 待ち + なさい 分かり + なさい
More grammar — § 3. it is experienced as an adjectival statement in the same way that the past tense for verbal adjectives is still an adjectival statement.

) In addition to this rather simple prohibitive‚ we can also turn the 連用形 + な さい imperative into a prohibitive‚ by using 連用形 + なさる + な.2 Further inﬂections
五段 verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ 分かる prohibitive form 会うな 歩くな 急ぐな 話すな 死ぬな 学ぶな 読むな 待つな 分かるな
127
一段 verb 見る 伸びる 食べる
prohibitive form 見るな 伸びるな 食べるな
irregular する 来る ます
prohibitive form するな くるな ますな
And ﬁnally ある‚ which has a negative imperative based on ない: なかれ. Rather than using し + なさる + な‚ just なさる + な is used. However‚ while grammatically sound‚ practically speaking this form is very rarely used.
.” (よ is an emphatic particle‚ added to the end of a sentence as an extra level of “I am telling you …”.More grammar — § 3. This works for any verb‚ except for する‚ which is technically the same verb as なさる but at a diﬀerent formality/politeness level. Even easier than the normal imperative command‚ some example sentences are:
にど く
二度と来るな。 “Don’t come (round here) a second time!” なんだ、見るなよ。 “What‚ don’t look (at me). This particle will be treated in more detail in the chapter on particles.

128
More grammar — § 3. We can also use an explicit “please” in the form of ください:
.2. In this sentence the “please” is implied‚ and depending on intonation and context this form may be experienced as anything between a mandate (such as a police oﬃcer asking you not to come too close to a crime scene) or a plea for someone to not do something (such as a friend in need asking you not to leave quite yet).10 Requesting: て‚ —て下さい
Imperative request
We already saw that we can use the verb 連用形 + てください to form a request‚
にはい くだ
コーヒーを二杯下さい。 “Two coﬀee‚ please. However‚ using this plain て form (rather than paired with ください) can be experienced as curt‚ or even impolite language‚ depending on the se ing it is used in‚ so be careful. Similarly‚ saying して in a stern tone might be less commanding than しろ‚ but will still be experienced as a command more than as request. If we say 待て instead of 待って‚ cu ing out the stop in the middle to sound curt‚ then rather than a request this may very well be experienced as a command instead.2 Further inﬂections
くだ
3.
Prohibitive request
This kind of requesting can of course also be done in a prohibitive manner‚ in which case we rely on the continuative form for ない using です‚ ないで:
い
行かないで。 (Please) don’t go.” But we can also use the plain て form to form an informal request‚ or plea:
ま
待って。 “Wait (please)”
か
これを買って？ “Buy this (for me)?” Of course‚ like all requests‚ they can be made to sound demanding‚ so intonation counts.

130
bases 未然形 連用形 連体形 已然形 命令形 られる -られ -られ -られる -られれ -られ れる -れ -れ -れる -れれ -れ
た
More grammar — § 3. This is no diﬀerent from English‚ except because in Japanese the grammatical roles are explicitly wri en‚ we must make sure we use the right particles:
ばん はん
晩ご飯を食べます。 “(I) eat dinner. Second‚ what used to be the verb actor has become a verb detail instead. This change from active voice to passive voice comes with two complications in Japanese: ﬁrst‚ what was ﬁrst the direct object has now become the verb subject instead. 晩ご飯が食べられます。 “Dinner is being eaten (by me).” Active‚ actor is marked with が. 晩ご飯が俺に食べられます。 “Dinner is being eaten by me.2 Further inﬂections
Thus‚ a simple phrase like 食べます‚ meaning “(I) eat”‚ can be made passive: 食べられます‚ “(something) is being eaten (by someone)”.
. In English we see this expressed by the fact that the verb actor moves to being part of a preposition phrase (“I” becomes “by me”‚ for instance)‚ and from the section on verb particles in chapter 2‚ we know that these kind of phrases are marked with に in Japanese:
おれ
俺が晩ご飯を食べます。 “I eat dinner.” Active‚ actor is marked with が.
いぬ こわ
犬がほえて、怖かった。 “(A) dog barked (at me)‚ (and that) was scary.” Passive‚ actor is marked with に.” Passive‚ verb uses が in relation to ご飯.” Active‚ verb uses を in relation to ご飯.

誰かに弟の自転車が盗まれた。 “My brother’s bike was stolen by someone.More grammar — § 3. In English‚ this comes down to statements such as “I was made to do the dishes by my mom”‚ and in Japanese‚ these constructions use the
. Remember that for a passive to also be a 迷惑の受身‚ the act has to have been performed‚ intentionally‚ by someone.” Active‚ verb uses を in relation to 自転車.” While inconvenient‚ this is not a 迷惑の受身‚ because the rain isn’t actively inconveniencing you — it is simply something that happens. In the following sentence‚ for instance‚ the verb form is merely passive rather than a “passive form of bother”:
あめ ふ
雨に降られた。 “(I) was rained on.” Passive‚ actor is marked with に.” Passive‚ verb uses が in relation to 自転車.2. A somewhat inelegant name‚ this speciﬁc passive is used to indicate that some action (taken by someone) has inconvenienced you‚ or someone else. However‚ this “form of bother” only applies to actions that were taken by someone‚ which inconvenienced you (or someone else). In addition to the regular passive construction‚ these verbs are also used to
めいわく うけみ
form what is known as the 迷惑の受身‚ or “passive form of bother”.12 Causative: せる/させる
Causative constructions are‚ as their name implies‚ constructions which indicate something was caused by someone.
3. In addition to describing the passive and passive form of bother‚ the helper verbs れる and られる are also used to form potential verb constructions‚ as well as honoriﬁc verb forms‚ and we shall look at these later on in this chapter. Let us look at how this works:
だれ おとうと じてんしゃ ぬす
誰かが 弟 の自転車を盗みました。 “Someone stole my (younger) brother’s bicycle.2 Further inﬂections
131
犬にほえられて怖かった。 “(I) was barked at by (a) dog‚ (and that) was scary.

” Some more examples:
ま
待たせたね。 “(I) made you wait‚ (didn’t I)?”
いもうと お
妹 に起こさせました。 “(I) had (my younger) sister wake me up. However‚ because this is a passive‚ we must make sure to use particles accordingly:
こども かあ あさ はん た
子供たちがお母さんに朝ご飯を食べさせられました。 “The children were made to eat breakfast by their mother. However‚ in most cases where it could either be a forced action or a permission‚ it’s usually a permission.”
せんせい しゅくだい なお
先生に 宿題 をやり直させられました。 “(I) was made to redo (my) homework by (the) teacher. In English‚ this form reads “have been made to do …” and is also quite long.”
.
3.” This sentence could technically also mean “The CEO caused me to take on the project” or “The CEO made me take on the project”‚ so context is all-important.” In addition to being a causative‚ this construction is also a “permissive”‚ which just means that it’s a construction that indicates giving permission to “let someone do something”:
しゃちょう う
社長 にプロジェクトを受けさせました。 “(The) CEO let me take on (the) project.2 Further inﬂections
かあ こども
133
お母さんが子供たちに朝ご飯を食べさせました。 “The mother made (her) children eat breakfast.13 Causative passive: せられる/させられる
The title sounds like a combination of the causative and the passive‚ and that’s essentially what it is.2. So‚ just like in most western language‚ the more nuance you want to place in your verb conjugation‚ the longer it’ll get. It’s long‚ and its use is not rare.More grammar — § 3.

2 Further inﬂections
3. at least outside of colloquial interaction with Japanese people who use it. Rather than inﬂecting‚ this verb is simply replaced entirely with the
でき
verb 出来る‚ which literally means “be able to do”. You may also hear people using れる rather than られる‚ but at the moment this is discouraged language abuse: the idea behind it is that the short potential form for 五段 verbs always ends on え—row syllable + る‚ and so using れる for 一段 verbs “does the same thing”. Forming the long potential is no diﬀerent from forming the passive‚ except that it is generally not used for 五段 verbs: Formation of the long potential form is the same as for the passive form:
verb 見る 伸びる 食べる
く
meaning see stretch eat come
potential 見られる 伸びられる 食べられる
こ
meaning be able to see be able to stretch be able to eat be able to come
来る
来られる
There is one striking exception to this potential form‚ and that’s the irregular verb する‚ “do”. However‚ while they might sound the same‚ れる is a classical helper verb‚ whereas the え—row syllable + る sound for 五段 verbs is actually a contraction from what used to be い—row syllable + える‚ so they have completely diﬀerent background. If you are a beginning student of Japanese‚ however‚ it is recommended you stick with proper grammar until you have mastered it to a level that allows you to interact with native speakers‚ so that you get a feel for what is “right” through exposure to the language as it is used by people. The reason this form is called the “long” potential is that there exists a shorter potential form for the 五段 verbs‚ which will be discussed after this section.14 Potential
Long potential: られる
As mentioned in the section on the passive‚ one of the other roles that れる/られる can play is that of the (long) potential. We need to be mindful of particles again: verbs in potential form are always intransitive‚ and so any direct object it might take in normal use becomes a verb subject instead‚ requiring the use of が rather than を. However‚ quite often in colloquial Japanese‚ the direct object particle を will be heard used in combination with these verbs‚ rather than the subject particle が‚ not because this is grammatically correct‚ but because it “feels right”. So until the Japanese language authorities start accepting this highly colloquial “short potential for 一段 verbs” as right and proper‚ you’re best oﬀ avoiding it. The potential form of a verb in English is typically constructed using the auxiliary verb “can”‚ such as when turning “I swim” into “I can swim”‚ but in Japanese this is a conjugation instead.134
More grammar — § 3. Note that because this is a potential form‚ を has to be swapped for が:
.2.

However‚ in modern Japanese‚ this construction only exists for 五段 verbs.” On a ﬁnal note‚ this potential form is one of a temporary nature. If we want to say that we have an inherent ability to do (or not do) something‚ we have to use 連体
でき
形 + ことが出来る‚ which will be explained after we cover the short potential form.
え
Short potential: 連用形 + 得る
The short potential form is called “short” because it is simply a lot shorter than the full 未然形+られる version of the potential. Similarly‚ 食べられ る means “(I) can eat (this)”‚ rather than the more general “(I) can eat”.More grammar — § 3. To illustrate:
verb 会う 読む 分かる
meaning meet read understand
classical inﬂection 会いえる 読みえる 分かりえる
contracted via 会いぇる 読みぇる 分かりぇる
modern inﬂection 会える 読める 分かれる
While this construction in modern Japanese is a contraction‚ there are a handful of verbs in which this contraction never occurred‚ and as such are still in use today
お
in the uncontracted form. Verbs such as ありえる (from ある) or 起こりえる (from 起こる‚ “to occur”) are examples of this. For instance‚ rather than meaning “I can see” in general (because you have eyes that work)‚ 見られ
た
る means “I can see (whatever I am supposed to see right now)”. Interestingly‚ this potential form can also be seen in certain modern 一段 verbs that have traditionally been paired with 得る‚ such
. To create the short potential form‚ the 連
え
用形 is paired with the verb 得る‚ meaning “to acquire”‚ to form an “a ainable” form of verbs. For 一段 verbs‚ the only grammatically correct potential form is the られる potential form.2 Further inﬂections
くるま と くだ いま
135
A: 車 を止めて下さい。 B: すみません、車が今止められません。 A: “Please stop the car.” B: “(I am) sorry‚ but (I) cannot stop the car right now. In this combination‚ the ﬁnal い—row syllable of the 連用形 for 五段 verbs has become contracted with the え sound from 得る over the course of history‚ becoming an え—row syllable instead.

While
い
strictly speaking the short potential form of 行く‚ its meaning of “being able to go” has become overloaded with the ﬁgurative meaning of “something being able to go well”.2 Further inﬂections
に
as 見える‚ “to (be able to) see”‚ from the 一段 verb 見る‚ or 煮える‚ “(be able to) boil”‚ from the 一段 verb 煮る.” The いける in this second sentence is actually a fairly important word to know. Just like with the 未然形 potential form‚ verbs placed in this short potential form become intransitive‚ which means that technically they can only be used in relation to subjects‚ and no longer in relation to direct objects.136
み
More grammar — § 3.
五段 verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ 学ぶ 読む 待つ 分かる ある
short potential form 会える 歩ける 急げる 話せる 死ねる 学べる 読める 待てる 分かれる ありえる
Some examples to show this potential form:
びょうき ある
病気であんまり歩けません。 “Because of (my) illness‚ I can’t walk that well (at the moment). As such‚ いける means “being ﬁne”‚ “being good” as well as noting that something “will do” or “is acceptable”. Note again that because this is a potential form‚ を has to be swapped for が:
ほん
A: 本をいくら読みますか。
じかん
B: そうですね。時間がたっぷりあって、本がいっぱい読めます。
.” これでいけるでしょうか。 “I wonder if this will do.

For instance‚ as mentioned earlier‚ 見られる means “being able to see (someある
thing) (at this moment)”. One can argue whether this belongs in a reader that should serve as introduction to Japanese‚ as it’s a rather advanced subject‚ but I would argue that in terms of how verbs can generically be made humble or honoriﬁc‚ the rules are relatively straight forward. Similarly‚ 歩ける means “being able to walk (at this moment)”.
. Particularly with negatives‚ this diﬀerence is striking.
3.3 Formal speech pa erns
In addition to being polite‚ an important aspect of formal Japanese is to use the right
けんじょう そんけい
mix of humble ( 謙譲 ) and honoriﬁc (尊敬) speech pa erns.” This is hardly anything to worry about as the potential form used is one associated with temporary impairment. In contrast‚ 見ることが出来る and 歩くことが出来る mean being able to see‚ or walk‚ in general. However‚ if they had used: 見ることが出来ません。 We would have good reason to apologise for telling them to look at something. And that’s hard enough to make even Japanese people get it wrong once they need to start using it.More grammar — § 3.”
Nominalised potential
A third way to form the potential‚ for any verb‚ is by using the construction 連体形
こと でき
+ 事が出来る. 事 literally means ‘concept’‚ and we already saw that 出来る means “be able to do”‚ and this in combination with a verb in 連体形 creates a generalised ability. In part‚ this is expressed by picking the right words to use‚ but in part it also depends on which verb inﬂections you pick. What makes it an advanced topic is not how to do it‚ but how to do it in such a way that a native speaker doesn’t raise an eyebrow at it.3 Formal speech pa erns
137
A: “How much do you read?” B: “Good question. they’re blind. For instance‚ a person whose glasses are so dirty they can’t really see any of the things we point out to them might say: 見られません。 “I can’t (really) see (it). (I) have plenty of time‚ so (I) can read a lot of books.

” 3. Of course‚ we can mix these pa erns to produce something that sounds odd to our ears: “I humbly am sorry. not just verb actions‚ but also opinions and things requiring copula statements.
3. This sounds very odd to an English speaker‚ and likewise mixing humble or honoriﬁc speech without using appropriate politeness will sound odd in Japanese‚ but it can be done. “I would like to humbly oﬀer my apologies.1 Humble verb pa erns
When one addresses someone who stands much higher on the social ladder than oneself (in a particular se ing)‚ it is customary to lower one’s own status by using humble speech. Compare the following sentences: 1.” 2. This can be made fairly obvious by using an English example.” This sentence mixes humble form with neutral terms.
五段 verb 会う 歩く 急ぐ 話す 死ぬ
お + 連用形+する お + 会い + する お + 歩き + する お + 急ぎ + する お + 話し + する お + 死に + する
お + 連用形+致す お + 会い + 致す お + 歩き + 致す お + 急ぎ + 致す お + 話し + 致す お + 死に + 致す
. The way to turn any old verb into a humble variant is relatively straight forward: the honoriﬁc particle 御 (pronounced お for most verbs‚ and ご for noun+する
おんよ
verbs where the noun uses 音読み reading)‚ is preﬁxed to the verb in 連用形 form‚ and
いた
suﬃxed either with する‚ or the explicitly humble counterpart to する‚ 致す. “I do apologise.” Of these‚ the ﬁrst sentence is humble‚ polite English. When する is used‚ the honorary preﬁx can sometimes be omi ed for a slightly less formal humble form‚ but when 致す is used‚ it has to be present. It’s not really polite‚ nor is it humble‚ but then it’s not oﬀensive either.138
More grammar — § 3. The second sentence is merely polite‚ and the third is essentially neutral. “I’m sorry. Humble speech applies to everything that has to do with oneself. just like in English.3.3 Formal speech pa erns
Humble and honoriﬁc pa erns are signiﬁcantly diﬀerent from politeness.

” Form: informal.More grammar — § 3. Being much shorter than the honoriﬁc form‚ we once more see a conﬁrmation of the general rule for politeness when it comes to Japanese: the longer a statement is‚ the more formal polite it will be. Given this information‚ we see that the sentence is actually identical (in meaning) to the following‚ plain form‚ sentence: いくつですか。 “How old is (your son/daughter)” In the plain form sentence‚ we can drop the fact that we’re asking this in relation to some child‚ because the use of いくつ should be enough information for the listener to ﬁgure this out. The word いくつ‚ meaning “how old” in this sentence‚ can only be used for children that are (or seem) younger than ten (the reason for this being that it is a question word used for counting statements using the counter つ‚ which can only count up to and including nine.3 Formal speech pa erns
143
preﬁxed with the honoriﬁc 御‚ pronounced ご‚ and する is either replaced by になる or なさる:
verb
ちゅうい
meaning pay a ention to guide (someone) contact (someone)
honoriﬁc counterpart ご注意になる or ご注意なさる ご案内になる or ご案内なさる ご連絡になる or ご連絡なさる
注意する
あんない
案内する
れんらく
連絡する
When using a copula while being honoriﬁc‚ rather than using the polite でご ざる‚ the properly honoriﬁc でいらっしゃる copula‚ in the form でいらっしゃいます‚ is used instead:
こさま
お子様はおいくつでいらっしゃいますか。 “How old is your child(/son/daughter)?” In this sentence‚ お子様 is an honoriﬁc for the noun 子‚ “child”‚ and でいらっ しゃいます acts as honoriﬁc form of です. As with the humble pa ern‚ there is no change in actual meaning when going from plain form to honoriﬁc‚ other than ruling out single person as implied actor or subject (since one cannot honour oneself). Anything higher
さい なんさい
uses the counter 歳‚ also wri en 才‚ with corresponding question word 何歳).
ことわ
断 る。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) refuse(s).
.

” Form: plain honoriﬁc.” Form: polite honoriﬁc. As this is honoriﬁc form‚ this can no longer apply to ﬁrst person single or plural.4 Classical adjectives
This ﬁnal section is not about how classical adjectives inﬂect‚ but is actually about what happens when we pair modern verbal adjectives with certain special verbs‚
い
such as ござる and 出でる. お断りになります。 “(you‚ he‚ she‚ they) refuse(s). In these cases‚ the adverbial form of the verbal adjective actually undergoes a sound change‚ the 連用形 く becoming a う instead‚ and leading to four possible classical pronunciation changes (meaning they will potentially change the
.” Form: plain‚ but more honoriﬁc than when using に+なる. お断りなさる。 “(you‚ he‚ she‚ they) refuse(s).” Form: (present progressive) polite honoriﬁc. お断りなさっています。 “(you‚ he‚ she‚ they) refuse(s). お断りなさいます。 “(you‚ he‚ she‚ they) refuse(s). お断りになる。 “(you‚ he‚ she‚ they) refuse(s).” Form: formal polite. While these very rarely get used on their own‚ there are certain set uses for them‚ where they pair up with speciﬁc adverbs‚ derived from verbal adjectives.
3.144
More grammar — § 3.4 Classical adjectives 断ります。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) refuse(s).” Form: polite honoriﬁc. ” Form: more formal than formal polite‚ using noun form + する. 断りします。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ we‚ they) refuse(s).

4 Classical adjectives pronunciation of the adjective with blatant disregard of their kanji):
145
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an あ row syllable‚ the adverb gets an —おう sound instead:
はや あり がた はよ あり がと
早い becomes はや[く→う]‚ which contracts to 早う.
.More grammar — § 3.
有難い becomes ありがた[く→う]‚ which contracts to 有難う.
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an い row syllable‚ the adverb gets an う-glide instead:
おお
大きい becomes 大き[く→う]‚ which contracts to 大きゅう
おい
美味しい becomes 美味し[く→う]‚ which contacts to 美味しゅう
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an う row syllable‚ the adverb gets a long う:
やす
安い becomes 安[く→う]‚ which does not contract and so stays 安う
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an お row syllable‚ the adverb gets a long お by virtue of the お—row syllable + う already being a long お sound:
おもしろ
面白い becomes 面白[く→う]‚ which does not contract and so stays 面白う And hopefully you noticed the ﬁrst two entries‚ which are precisely the ones
あよ
you may know from the phrases お早うございます‚ translating to “good morning”‚ and ありがとうございます‚ translating to “thank you very much”.

4 Classical adjectives
.146
More grammar — § 3.

1.
おんよ
The reading ご is used to make words with a Chinese reading (音読み) honoriﬁc.
4.1 Preﬁxes 4. There is no overstating how important particles are in using Japanese: without them‚ there is no Japanese language. In addition‚ it can be used as a stylistic reading to make words sound more poetic.1 The honoriﬁc preﬁx
One of the most used preﬁxes is probably 御‚ pronounced either as お‚ ご‚ み‚ おん‚ or ぎょ‚ depending on what it is being used with‚ and for:
くんよ
The reading お is used to make words with a Japanese reading (訓読み) honoriﬁc.Chapter 4
Particles
じょし
Particles‚ called 助詞‚ or more aﬀectionately referred to as てにをは (after the verb て form and the three quintessential particles に‚ を and は)‚ are the fundamental glue that holds Japanese sentences together‚ indicating how words (or blocks of words) relate to each other. The reading み is used for imperial and Shinto terminology. The reading おん is a rare reading used mainly as a classical honoriﬁc preﬁx. In this chapter‚ we will ﬁrst look at some common preﬁxes‚ then look at what is generally considered the bulk of Japanese particles‚ followed by an entire chapter dedicated to a rather special set of particles: counters. Most particles are suﬃxes‚ meaning that they follow whatever it is they are marking‚ but there are a small number of preﬁxes. 147
. It can be considered a very formal version of the お reading.

1. A by no means exhaustive list of such words includes:
ちゃ
お茶
かね
(green) tea money
ねっとう
お金
ゆ
お湯
ひや
warm/hot water (but not boiling water‚ which is called 熱湯) cold water belly‚ stomach chopsticks
ちそうさま
お冷
なか
お腹
はし
お箸
ちそう
ご馳走
はん
feast (used in ご馳走様でした‚ said when one is done eating) food‚ dinner
ご飯
4.
This preﬁx is essential in various honoriﬁc and humble constructions‚ as we saw in the sections on humble and honoriﬁc verb constructions.148
Particles — § 4.1 Preﬁxes The reading ぎょ is also rarely used‚ and is used exclusively for imperial terms. It should be noted that some words‚ when used in daily speech‚ always get this preﬁx. This preﬁx indicates a “not yet” or “has yet to be realised” aspect‚ which explains what it’s doing in a word like 未然形‚ but there are many other words in which we ﬁnd this preﬁx:
word
みらい
meaning future incomplete unmarried pending prior
ふ
composition “not yet arrived” “not yet ﬁnished” “not yet married” “not yet arranged” “not yet begun”
未来
みかん
未完
みこん
未婚
みせいり
未整理
みはつ
未発
When 不 is used‚ it expresses a noun negative‚ similar to the English preﬁxes “un-”‚ “im-”‚ “a-” or “de-”.
み
We know 未 from the verbal imperfect base‚ the 未然形. Examples of this preﬁx are:
.2 Negating preﬁxes
There are also various common preﬁxes that negate‚ void or otherwise create a counterみ ふ む ひ
concept word when used: 未‚ 不‚ 無 and 非.

There are the grammatical particles‚ which map to grammatical interpretations such as direct objects‚ verb phrase subjects‚ disambiguation‚ etc. Then there are the various particles for emphasis in all its forms‚ so it should be clear that we have quite a bit of ground to cover. However‚ because of the way the Japanese language describes things happening or being in the world‚ a single Japanese particle in this category might map to a number of prepositions when translated‚ depending on the context in which it is used. They lack any form of translation to languages that leave grammar implied‚ and as such can be a bit tricky to learn initially‚ as they require actively learning grammar in order to properly understand what they do (something which most people have not really been exposed to in their general education). They have been ordered in three sections‚ the ﬁrst covering the absolutely essential particles‚ the second and third covering less frequently used and even several ‘rare’ particles and particle combinations.
4. Aside from these grammatical particles‚ there is the set of particles which perform roles similar to what prepositions do in‚ for instance‚ English.2 Particles
What most people consider proper particles actually cover a number of subcategories of particles. Thus‚ any part of a compound noun that gets used by several words in roughly the same meaning can be considered a preﬁx of sorts. The list of particles covered in this chapter is not an exhaustive list of all particles used in the Japanese language‚ but does represent the bulk of particles that you might encounter.
.150
preﬁx
だい ・おお
Particles — § 4.2 Particles
meaning “big” (two possible common pronunciations) “small” (two possible common pronunciations) “re-” “most …” “super-” “anti-”‚ “counter-” “semi-”‚ “demi-”‚ “incomplete” indicates a boundary or limit an intensifying preﬁx
大 ∼
こ ・しょう
小 ∼
さい
再∼
さい
最∼
ちょう
超∼
たい
対∼
はん
半∼
い
以∼
ま
真っ∼
(Note that the consonant double っ in 真っ becomes an ん when this preﬁx is paired with words starting with a な—column or ま—column syllable‚ such as
ま なか
真ん中) There are more‚ mainly due to the fact that many nouns in Japanese are compound nouns.

2. The particles in this section are considered “essential”‚ because they cover the absolute minimum of grammatical roles that you need to understand before you understand Japanese at a basic conversational level.1 Essential particles
The essential particles list consists of the particles か‚ が‚ と‚ で‚ に‚ の‚ は‚ も and を (as well as へ‚ which is not essential but belongs in this list because of the way it contrasts with a particular use of に). The ‘question mark’ role is fairly easily demonstrated:
い
行きます。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they)’ll go. First‚ this sentence consists of two parts: しようか and […]と思っ た. This is then combined
.Particles — § 4. While there is typically some unifying idea for that describes what the particle does “in concept”‚ in practice this means having to remember several roles per particle‚ and being able to identify which one is used when.” 行きますか。 “Will/shall (I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) go?” The more interesting functions of か are found when it is used in subphrases instead‚ such as in the following example:
おも
しようかと思った。 “(I) thought (about) whether I should do (it). While it acts as the question mark when used at the end of sentences‚ it actually acts as a general questioning particle.
か — Questioning particle
This particle is sometimes called the Japanese equivalent of the question mark‚ but this is not entirely true. Traditionally‚ て would be considered part of this list‚ but we already extensively covered て in the verb section on the て form.” Let’s take this sentence apart and look at why it means what the translation says it means. While the list seems short‚ a mere 10 particles‚ most of these particles — in terms of what you might be used to from English — do many diﬀerent things.2 Particles
151
4. It usually ends a sentence‚ because most of the time the entire sentence is the question‚ but you can ﬁnd it used inside sentences as well‚ where it turns only part of the sentence into a questioning phrase. The ﬁrst is the dubitative form of する‚ with the questioning particle か‚ so that “let’s do” becomes “will/shall (I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) do?”.

There is a rather big diﬀerence between the natural language “or” and the logical “or”‚ in that the la er doesn’t ask about which choice to go with‚ but whether at least one of the choices listed is correct: A: “Would you like coﬀee‚ or tea?” B‚ interpreting ‘or’ naturally: “Coﬀee‚ please. The more complete version of “whether (to) […]” is the pa ern “whether or not (to) […]”‚ and Japanese has an equivalent to this: […]かどうか:
かれ く わ
彼が来るかどうか、分かりません。 “(I) have no idea whether he’ll come over or not. questions‚ by using two separate questions. This might be a bit confusing at ﬁrst‚ as in English we always put our choices in a single sentence‚ but in Japanese a double question pa ern is in fact quite common:
ちゃ
コーヒーにしますか、お茶にしますか。 “Will (you) have coﬀee‚ or tea?” While the English translation shows that this is just a normal “or” question‚ the Japanese sentence joins up the otherwise separate questions コーヒーにしますか‚ “will you have coﬀee?” and お茶にしますか‚ “will you have tea?”‚ into a single choice question. However‚ か can also be used as a direct translation for “or”‚ but a very speciﬁc one: the logical connective “or”. And since this is a past tense we arrive at the translation that was initially given.” A: “Would you like coﬀee or tea?” B‚ interpreting ‘or’ logically: “Yes‚ please.” We can even form more elaborate yes-or-no‚ be-or-not‚ do-or-not‚ etc.152
Particles — § 4.” What happened in this second conversation? Rather than interpreting ‘or’ as the natural version‚ B decided to interpret it as the logical connective‚ meaning he answered the question “would you like [coﬀee or tea]” — the logical ‘or’ doesn’t give
.2 Particles
with the past tense for […]と思う‚ “think […]” or “think about […]” to form “think about [will shall … do?]”. Answers can range from コーヒーをください (‘coﬀee‚ please’) to どれでも
けっこう
いい (‘either is ﬁne’) to things like いいえ、結構です (‘no‚ that’s okay (I shall have nothing)’). This isn’t natural English‚ so we need to rewrite it using appropriate words: a dubitative question in English uses the word “whether”‚ so going from Japanese to literal English to natural English‚ we arrive at “think about whether (or not) to do (something)”.

In Japanese‚ using か to list choices in this way means oﬀering people this kind of logical ‘or’ choice: A: コーヒーにしますか、お茶にしますか。 B: コーヒーをください。 A: “Will (you) have coﬀee‚ or tea?” B: “Coﬀee‚ please. Beginning students of Japanese often forget that using か in this fashion only applies to the logical connective ‘or’‚ and start mistakenly using it wherever in English the word ‘or’ is used. It deserves extra warning: avoid using か to mean ‘or’ until you’ve developed a good grasp of the Japanese language.” A: 電車かバスで行きますか。 B: はい。 A: “Will you go by train or bus?” B: “Yes.” A: コーヒーかお茶にしますか。 B: いいえ、今は冷たいお飲み物がいいと思います、ね。 A: “Will (you) have coﬀee or tea?” B: “No‚ (I) think right now something cold (literally‚ ‘a cold drink’) would be nicer.2 Particles
153
you a choice‚ it connects the choices into a single option‚ which is picked if any one of the otherwise individual choices is picked‚ or isn’t picked if none of them work.” The key here is that the answer is actually not incomplete given the question asked. An “[X]か[Y]” question is a yes or no question‚ and so there is no obligation to give any more information than what is being asked for.
.” This can potentially lead to confusion‚ or seemingly incomplete answers:
でんしゃ い
A: 電車で行きますか、バスで行きますか。 B: 電車で。 A: “Will you go by train‚ or by bus?” B: “By train.Particles — § 4.

However‚ since —かよ invariably concerns a question‚ and the combination of a question mark followed by an exclamation mark is considered bad form by most style guides‚ special consideration should go into deciding on whether or not to add an exclamation mark in the translation.154
Particles — § 4.
Using か with interrogatives
There is one more thing we need to look at when looking at か‚ and that concerns its combination with interrogatives.2 Particles
In addition to all this‚ か can be used to indicate a kind of rhetorical question usually associated with mild scorn:
こと し
そんな事知るか。 “How would (I) know?”
This kind of expression is often derisive‚ made even stronger by adding よ at the end:
わ
分かるかよ。 “How the hell would you know [this]?” This use of か is actually one of the few times when it is possible to stick an exclamation mark in the translation‚ as it is virtually always accompanied by a raised voice.) the particle か creates a vaguely speciﬁc answer to that interrogative. The easiest way to understand what that means is to just look at what happens:
interrogative なに だれ どこ いつ なぜ どう
meaning what who where when why how
with か なにか だれか どこか いつか なぜか どうか
meaning something someone somewhere sometime‚ eventually for some reason in some way or another
These words act as nouns‚ and can be used like any other noun in sentences:
. When paired with an interrogative (words such as ‘how’‚ ‘why’‚ ‘when’‚ ‘where’‚ etc.

e. In the same way that [X]と[Y]と[Z] is an exhaustive noun list (i. On a ﬁnal note‚ in classical Japanese‚ が has the same role as の does today.‚ the unity of all these things)‚ if we use people instead of Xs and Ys‚ we end up with a uniﬁed group:
.Particles — § 4. In addition to this‚ が can be used for weak emphasis‚ usually translating to the English weakly emphatic “but”‚ such as in the question “Excuse me‚ but do you know the time?”‚ where its role is mostly to “ease in” the main statement. As such‚ you may encounter ‘set’ phrases that use が in a genitive meaning. These sentences use the particles も and だけ‚ since it’s hard to illustrate a proper contrastive without using a moderately complex sentence: も marks similarity‚ and だけ (roughly) translates to “just/only”.2 Particles
じょうず
155
いつか上手になります。 “(I)’ll become good (at it) eventually. Similarly‚ が eases in the main statement‚ although rather than ge ing a comma in front of it like ‘but’ does‚ it gets a comma after:
いま なんじ
すみませんが、今何時ですか。 “Excuse me (but)‚ what time is it?” Again like the English ‘but’‚ が can be used as a more proper contrastive:
もんだい
それもそうだが、問題はそれだけじゃない。 “That is true‚ but (the) problem consists of more than just that (issue).”
が — Subject‚ actor‚ weak emphasis‚ contrast
We already saw が in chapter 2‚ in the section on verb particles‚ where it was explained that it could mark verb actors and subjects. The grand unifying role that it plays is‚ actually‚ uniﬁcation‚ but the way in which it does it is usually experienced as doing completely diﬀerent things. We will look at も in more detail later in this particle section‚ and we’ll examine だけ in the next particle section.
と — Uniﬁer
This particle is a nicely complex one. We already saw と being used to create an exhaustive noun list in chapter 2 in the section on noun particles‚ but this role extends not just to things‚ but to people as well.” This sentence consists of the sections それもそうだ‚ ‘that is (also) true’ and 問題はそれだけじゃない‚ ‘the problem is not just that (issue)’‚ joined with が for contrast.

For instance‚ examine the following sentence:
きむら とうきょう い
木村さんと 東京 に行きました。 In this sentence‚ 東京に行きました means “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) went to Tokyo”‚ and 木村さんと looks like an incomplete noun list.” In this sentence‚ 石田 has been explicitly mentioned as primary verb actor‚ and because he’s already been mentioned‚ can be left implied in the と listing that follows. There are several ways to make the omi ed ‘thing’ explicit.” However‚ this only makes sense if the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.156
ほんだ ささき えいが み い
Particles — § 4.”
In this sentence‚ the “noun list” 本田さんと榊さん exhaustively lists all the members of the group of people that will go see a ﬁlm. However‚ just because it is the most obvious‚ that does not mean it’s the only interpretation possible. If‚ say‚ we’re discussing what a mutual friend of ours has been doing over the holiday‚ without that friend present‚ and one of us u ers the phrase 木村さんと東京に行きました then the contextually omi ed person would be our mutual friend‚ rather than either of us. Finally‚ we can do the most unnatural thing possible‚ and form a ‘proper’ exhaustive list without any implied nouns or people:
.2 Particles 本田さんと 榊 さんが映画を見に行く。 “Honda and Sakaki are going to go see a ﬁlm. One of these is to use the disambiguation particle‚ は:
いしだ
石田さんは木村さんと東京に行きました。 “Ishida (rather than someone else) went to Tokyo with Kimura. If instead we only want to reiterate the person’s identity‚ we would use が: 石田さんが木村さんと東京に行きました。 “Ishida went to Tokyo with Kimura. An interesting feature is that と can unify a group of people‚ or a group of things in general‚ leaving the central‚ contextually obvious noun implied. However‚ this is one of those aspects of Japanese where context is important: we can leave oﬀ a contextually obvious “thing” in a noun list‚ and expect people who understand Japanese to ﬁll this in themselves: in this case‚ the most obvious interpretation is that ‘I’ or ‘we’ went to Tokyo with Kimura.

In fact‚ looking at further roles of と this becomes immediately obvious.” Of course this explanation so far has focussed on people‚ but the same goes for plain old object nouns:
か
オレンジと買った。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) bought (it) along with (the) oranges.2 Particles 石田さんと木村さんが東京に行きました。 “Ishida and Kimura went to Tokyo. as long as you’re using と for exhaustive listing‚ a full list is always of the form: [X]と[Y](と[Z]と[…]) And a list with an implied item is always of the form: [X]と([Y]と[…]と) With this list explicitly ending on と. if it ends on と‚ something has been left oﬀ: 石田さんと木村さんが東京に行きました。 “Ishida and Kimura went to Tokyo. In addition to noun listing‚ と can be used in combination with sound or state
ぎおんご ぎたいご
words‚ properly called 擬音語‚ onomatopoeia‚ and 擬態語‚ mimeses respectively‚ to
. However‚ there are more things that と does‚ and some of these involve a [noun]と construction‚ so try to remember that just because an exhaustive listing with an implied item has the form [X]と‚ not everything that ﬁts the pa ern [X]と has to be such an exhaustive listing with implied item. Being able to tell whether a noun listing has any implied items is rather simple: if it ends on と‚ instead of on a noun‚ it has an implied item. It doesn’t ma er how long the noun list is for this.”
157
I say unnatural‚ because if someone has already been established as contextual subject or actor‚ you either leave them implied‚ or you mention them as actual subject or actor.Particles — § 4. If this was an opening sentence in a conversation‚ however‚ this sentence would be ﬁne‚ as no context will have been established yet.” 石田さんと木村さんと東京に行きました。 “Ishida‚ Kimura and (I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ us‚ they) went to Tokyo.” So it doesn’t really ma er what category the nouns are.

” This clearly demonstrates a quote being recited‚ but things are not quite that simple. It is not surprise‚ then‚ that a mastery of onomatopoeia and mimeses is typically seen as having mastered conversational Japanese. と will work with a much wider variety of things than just quotes‚ as the
. Sound description words (called ‘onomatopoeia’ in English) are treated in the same way:
あめ ふ
雨がザーと降ってきた。 “The rain came pouring down. Before you now go thinking up all kinds of onomatopoeia yourself‚ Japanese has been in use for centuries‚ and virtually any onomatopoeia you might come up with already exists‚ in a very speciﬁc form. In fact‚ this adverbial marking of things using と extends beyond just the 擬 音語 and 擬態語‚ and through this extending becomes a bit more complex too: a popular way to explain this is to call と the quoting particle‚ and give an example such as the following to illustrate this:
いま い い
「今行く」と言いました。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) said (I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they)’ll be coming over right now.2 Particles
form adverbial constructions. Literally‚ then‚ this construction would say that the lake is ‘doing’ きらきら.” Here‚ the onomatopoeic word ザー is not found in the translation‚ because in English — as in most Western languages — we do not use such words to any serious degree. There are in fact 擬音語・擬態語 dictionaries which will list all of them by category and meaning (you may ﬁnd one online on www.” In this sentence‚ the word きらきら is a state description word (called ‘mimesis’ in English)‚ which paired with と becomes an adverb to the verb する. In Japanese‚ however‚ these words are an essential part of natural sounding language: the translation states that rain came “pouring down”‚ because ザー is the sound that rain pouring down makes.com‚ for instance)‚ so you’re not free to come up with your own.nihongoresources. For instance‚ if it was a starlit night and we wanted to say that all the lights were causing the lake to sparkle‚ we would say something like the following:
いけ
池がきらきらとした。 “The lake sparkled. there are several hundred well established onomatopoeia and mimeses‚ each typically with at least a handful of interpretations depending on what they relate to‚ leading to well over a thousand diﬀerent uses.158
Particles — § 4.

Particles — § 4. 言う‚ 思う‚ 考える‚ and する. So how does と diﬀer from を‚ the direct object marker? Actually‚ sometimes we can use either‚ but for some verbs the meaning changes radically when we use と‚ as opposed to when we use を.”
しゅみ しごと
趣味は仕事としています。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) consider (my‚ your‚ his‚ her‚ its‚ our‚ their) hobby (my‚ your‚ his‚ her‚ its‚ our‚ their) work.”
じゃくてん ちから かんが
弱点 を 力 と 考 えましょう。 “Let’s think of (my‚ your‚ his‚ her‚ its‚ our‚ their) weakness(es) as (one of my‚ your‚ his‚ her‚ its‚ our‚ their) strength(s) (instead). A good example of this is the verb なる‚ which we looked at in chapter 2‚ in the section on important verbs.” “He was called Tanimura. This verb changes its meaning from “to become” to “to be” when we use と rather than を‚ so there is an
.” What と is actually doing is marking all these things — the quote 「今行く」‚ the volitional act 車を買おう‚ the concept 力‚ and the activity 仕事 — as somehow being adverbial to the verbs in question. For instance‚ 言 う means ‘to say’‚ but it can also mean ‘to call’.” “He was called Imaiku.” Suddenly the ﬁrst translation sounds quite unlikely‚ although nothing really changed. As such‚ we can actually translate our ﬁrst sentence in two radically diﬀerent ways: 「今行く」と言いました。 “He said he’d be right over. The actual interpretation of what と is doing depends entirely on the interpretation of what’s being marked as adverbial‚ and the interpretation of the verbs used.” The second translation sounds quite unlikely‚ but if we replace 今行く with 谷村さん‚ we get exactly the same possible translations:
たにむら
「谷村さん」と言いました。 “He said ‘Tanimurasan’.2 Particles following examples should illustrate:
くるま か おも
159
車 を買おうと思います。 “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they)’re thinking about buying a car.

As such‚ “being late” and “not being allowed on the plane” are simultaneously true. We can make this more obvious with the promised more drastic example:
ともだち くび じしょく
友達が首になると辞職します。 “If my friend gets ﬁred‚ I quit. This sentence does not say “if my friend gets ﬁred‚ I shall put in my resignation”‚ it says that right there and then‚ the moment he gets ﬁred‚ you’re qui ing. Sinceと is acting as a logical ‘and’‚ statements involvingと don’t concern opinion‚ hearsay‚ or guesswork‚ they state plain and simple true fact‚ so the following is correct use of と:
. One more thing that と does is act as a logical consequence. The moment you are late‚ immediately and irrevocably you are also unable to board.” literally: “for aeroplanes (rather than something else): if you’re late‚ you can’t board.2 Particles
important choice to be made about which particle suits our need best. Another example is the verb 考える‚ which means “to think” when used with を‚ but “to think about” when used with と. Hopefully you spo ed what happens here: rather than the verb and the direct object being distinct things‚ using と uniﬁes the verb and thing it works with into something that means something diﬀerent from the sum of the parts.160
Particles — § 4. We already saw か acting as logical ‘or’‚ and と is basically the logical ‘and’ equivalent. The same goes for “to think about [X]”‚ or “to consider [X] something”‚ or “to dream about [X]”.” It is easy to mistake what happens in this sentence for just an “if A‚ then B”‚ so let’s look at what this sentence is doing before illustrating this use of と with a more drastic example. For instance‚ you cannot split up “to be [X]” into “to be” and “X” without changing the meaning of the verb. While it is easier to explain と as a series of separate things for all these diﬀerent verbs‚ it’s really doing the exact same thing for all of them‚ even though there is no simple rule in Western grammar that we can map it to so that it makes sense given what we know from our own every day language use.” Here‚ it is crucially important to notice the と‚ and realise that we’re talking about simultaneous actions. Aeroplanes‚ with their strict schedules‚ have a very simple rule‚ being that if you are late for the ﬂight‚ then too bad for you. To make ma ers even worse‚ we’re not there yet. The plane doesn’t wait for people. If we want to express that two things are simultaneously the case‚ we would use と:
ひこうき おく の
飛行機は遅れると乗れません。 “With aeroplanes‚ the idea is that if you’re late‚ you can’t board. It also doesn’t leave any ambiguity‚ because you’re asserting a fact.

” そうしないと。 literally: “Not doing so (means …)” meaning: “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) have to do so.Particles — § 4. However‚ if you have an umbrella‚ or you’re indoors‚ or you might be in any one of a number of situations in which it is raining but you don’t get wet‚ this sentence is simply false‚ and as such stating it as a universal fact is plain wrong. Instead of using と‚ these kind of musings require the use of ば or たら conditionals: たら: 雨が降ったらきっとぬれます、ねえ。 ば: 雨が降れば、ぬれる、なあ。 “I guess if it starts raining I’ll get wet” with the なあ/ねえ endings signalling that you’re saying something rhetorical‚ but you’d like whoever is listening to acknowledge you anyway. Usually students will mistakenly use と in this way when what they really want to say is something pertaining to a particular‚ speciﬁc situation. If you go out now‚ you’ll get wet without an umbrella.” The reason this second sentence is wrong is becauseと expresses a universally true fact. For instance‚ if you’re looking out the window‚ and you know you have no umbrella with you‚ you might want to say “if it starts raining now‚ I’ll get wet”‚ with the implication that this will happen if you go outside‚ not that you’ll magically get wet inside if it starts to rain outside.2 Particles
あめ ふ いま い かさ ぬ
161
雨が降る。今行けば傘がないと濡れる。 “It’s raining at the moment.” These sentences are unﬁnished in the sense that they omit the — contextually
. This factual consequence is also found in unﬁnished sentences such as the following:
いま い
今行かないと。 literally: “Not leaving now (means…)” meaning: “(I‚ you‚ he‚ she‚ it‚ we‚ they) have to go.” But this next sentence is simply wrong:
ふ
雨が降るとぬれる。 “If it rains‚ we’ll get wet.

”
ひこうき き
飛行機でアメリカに来ました。 “(We) came to America by aeroplane.” ホテルに泊まった。 Decomposes as: “we did: staying a a hotel. In Japanese‚ these are two very diﬀerent things: the ﬁrst sentence focuses on an event‚ while the second focuses on a location. In Japanese‚ the role these words play is performed by で:
あか か
赤ペンで書いてある。 “(It)’s wri en with a red pen. For instance‚ in English the sentences “We played in the park” and “The knives are in the cupboard” use the same preposition “in”. by aeroplane”. The ﬁrst role is that of instrumentalis.2 Particles
obvious — generally negative consequences of the “not doing” of something.” A second important role that で plays is that it signiﬁes the location of a verb action‚ or event. In English‚ this is things like “by”‚ “with” or “using” in relation to some instrument‚ in sentences like “This was wri en with a red pen” or “We came to the U.
こうえん あそ
公園で遊びました。 “(We) played in the park.” This use of で is quite nice when one says something that in English would be ambiguous such as “We stayed at a hotel.” In English‚ it is not possible to tell whether this would be an answer to “what did you do?” or “where did you stay?”‚ without more information available to us.162
Particles — § 4.S. In Japanese‚ this distinction is immediately obvious:
と
ホテルで泊まった。 Decomposes as: “At the hotel‚ we did: staying.”
.
で — Instrumental‚ event location
The role of で is technically two-fold‚ although some people consider the て form of です‚ which is also wri en で‚ a particle‚ in which case there would be three roles. Consequentially‚ the ﬁrst sentence requires で‚ while the second sentence uses another particle‚ に.

However‚ に is not restricted to just time:
ねこ ね
猫がソファに寝ている。 “The cat’s napping on the couch. In contrast to this‚ a time frame rather than a point in time can also be indicated with に:
いっしゅう うんどう にかい
一週 に運動を二回します。 “(I) exercise twice a week.” Here に is used to indicate a point in space‚ namely a spot on the couch (remember from the section on で that if we wanted to focus on the act of napping itself‚ で would have had to be used instead). In the following example sentence‚ for instance‚ で is not a particle‚ but the continuative form of です:
かのじょ ひと
彼女がきれいでスタイルもいい人ですね。 “She’s pre y‚ and has good style too‚ don’t you agree?” It should most deﬁnitely not be read as if で was an instrumentalis‚ whereby the sentence would read something akin to “She’s got good style thanks to being pre y”. This sounds complicated‚ so running through examples for all the combinations might help clarify things:
さんじ で
三時に出ます。 “(I) will head out at 3.2 Particles
163
As mentioned‚ で can also be said to have a third role‚ namely as the continuative form of the copula です‚ which is で‚ although this is somewhat mixing diﬀerent things because they sound the same.Particles — § 4. Just as for time‚ に can also indicate an indeterminate location:
.” This example indicates a point in time‚ namely the speciﬁc moment 3 o’ clock. The principal function of this particle is to describe points or frames in time space.” Here‚ instead of an exact moment‚ a time frame is speciﬁed in which something happens.
に — Point or interval in time or space‚ destination‚ purpose‚ relation
This particle is a very versatile particle because of the way the Japanese interpret processes and states in and of the universe.

For instance‚ take the following two sentences:
とうきょう い
東京 に行きます。 “(I) will go to Tokyo.”
. The answer is surprisingly simple: when you want to indicate a direction‚ use へ. A second role that に plays is to indicate a purpose of some action. When used in this fashion it typically follows a verb in 連用形:
こめ か い
米を買いに行ってきます。 “(I)’m going out to buy rice. However‚ it is a location‚ and that’s why we can use に for it.2 Particles 海の向こうに別の世界がある。 “There’s a diﬀerent world on the other side of the ocean. When you want to indicate a destination‚ use に. A more general pa ern for this “doing something for a purpose” is the pa ern
ため
[…](の)為 + に‚ which explicitly states purpose through the noun 為‚ and can be used with a wider variety of verbs and statements.
えいが み
映画を見に行かない？ “Won’t (you) go watch a ﬁlm (with me)?” Here the “going” is done for the purpose of 見る‚ “seeing”.” Here the “going” is done for the purpose of 買う‚ “buying”.”
The “other side” of the ocean isn’t really one location‚ it’s very much indeterminate. Sometimes confusion arises about when to use に and when to use へ when it comes to directions and destinations. The last role that に plays we have already seen extensively used in chapters 2 and 3‚ when dealing with verb details that translate to adverbial and prepositional phrases‚ so we shall consider this aspect thoroughly explained by now.
へ — Direction
Before we look at the role this particle plays‚ it should be emphasised that the particle へ is always pronounced え. The real problem isn’t which to use‚ but when it doesn’t ma er which you use.164
うみ む べつ せかい
Particles — § 4. This construction will be explained in the nominalisers section in the chapter on language pa erns.

This is a very powerful ‘feature’‚ because it lets us talk about phrases as if they were nouns.
きょう まち ある たの
今日の町を歩くのがそんなに楽しくありませんでした。 “(I) didn’t particularly enjoy today’s walk about the city. This is my destination (for it is marked as a location).”
165
While in English the sentence “I will go to Tokyo” can both mean that Tokyo is the destination‚ or that Tokyo is just the most identiﬁable point in indicating a direction of travel‚ in Japanese there is a subtle diﬀerence: 東京に行きます。 “(I) will go to Tokyo.
の — Genitive
We already covered の in chapter 2 when we talked about noun particles‚ but there is one more thing that it does that requires a bit more explanation‚ and that’s nominalisation. It lets us say things like “I didn’t like walking around town today”‚ where “walking around town today” is technically treated as a nominalised clause‚ and thus acts as a noun.”
.” Sometimes it doesn’t ma er in a conversation whether you say something is a destination or just a general direction of travel‚ and even Japanese will use them interchangeably under those circumstances‚ but there are also examples in which it’s impossible to use one instead of the other. Thus‚ if someone asks you a question with に‚ you answer with に‚ and if you get a question with へ‚ you answer with へ‚ of course observing that you’re using the right words to match the particle.2 Particles 東京へ行きます。 “(I) will go to Tokyo. Similarly‚ when you’re navigating your way through a forest and want to go west‚ there’s no speciﬁc or even general location you want to go to‚ you only want to head in a particular direction‚ so you can only use へ to describe this.Particles — § 4. In questions‚ it’s typically customary to answer with the particle that was used in the question. For instance‚ if you want to say where you’ve been during your vacation‚ you can only use に‚ because you’re talking about locations you’ve visited‚ not directions you travelled in.” 東京へ行きます。 “(I) will go in the direction of Tokyo (this is not necessarily my destination‚ for it is not marked as a location).

As is evident from the example sentences‚ using の (as a back referral) lets us talk about a speciﬁc instance of an activity‚ の事 lets us talk about the same speciﬁc instance‚ but as an abstract concept rather than the activity‚ and just 事 talks about the general activity‚ rather than some speciﬁc instance. However‚ this nominalisation is restricted to events that are in-topic.” because: 手 紙を 出すの 事‚ “posting a le er” as the idea of performing a speciﬁc activity‚ was forgo en.” because: 手紙を出すの‚ “posting a le er” as a speciﬁc activity‚ was forgo en.166
Particles — § 4. In addition to its roles as a noun lister and referral particle‚ の can be used as a question softener. Comparing all three with a series of examples‚ we see the following:
てがみ だ わす
手紙を出すのを忘れました。 meaning: “I forgot to post the le er. We can actually use either の事‚ or 事 without the の‚ to say two diﬀerent things. 手紙を出す事を忘れました。 meaning: “I forgot how to post a le er. どうしたの？ どうしたのか？ “What happened?” For answers to questions that ask for a reason to some situation‚ の softens this reason:
.2 Particles
In this sentence‚ the clause 町を歩く‚ “to walk the city”‚ has been turned into a gerund (a gerund is the noun form of a verb: “to walk” → “(the) walking”) by の: 町 を歩くの meaning “the speciﬁc ‘walking of the city’ that was done”‚ as a noun.” because: 手紙を出す事‚ “posting a le er” as the concept in general‚ was forgo en. If some activity or event is a context to a conversation‚ then の can be used to nominalise it‚
こと
but if we want to talk about events or activities in general‚ we have to use 事. Used on its own this is considered reserved speech‚ bordering on eﬀeminate‚ and men tend to use のか instead. 手紙を出すの事を忘れました。 meaning: “I forgot that I had to post a le er. With this noun form we can then make all sorts of comments in relation to it.

This is why‚ when a plain copula statement is paired with の as a back referral‚ you will never hear だ followed by の‚ but always な followed by の. The polite version‚ のです‚ will be treated in the section on more particles later in this chapter. Imagine that we’re having a conversation and we’re talking about watching ﬁlms in the cinema‚ DVD rentals‚ and TV shows‚ and the following sentence is used:
み
テレビ(…)よく見ます。 Where for (…) we either ﬁnd が‚ を or は.” Again‚ this use is considered borderline eﬀeminate‚ so men tend to use this construction in conjunction with the plain copula だ‚ with or without contracting the の to an ん to form のだ or んだ. While a simple description‚ this has some repercussions when those phrases end on だ‚ because of its base forms.
Pairing の with the copula だ
When pairing の with phrases‚ we are basically using those phrases a ributively to the noun that の refers back to. 1) テレビをよく見ます
. Let’s look at what this means in terms of what は does‚ compared to を or が.Particles — § 4. While all three would translate to “(I) watch TV a lot”‚ their connotations are very diﬀerent.2 Particles
かいしゃ
167
A: どうしてまだ会社にいますか？
しごと お
B: まだ仕事が終わってないの。 A: “Why are (you) still at work?” B: “(it is because) (I)’m not done with (my) work yet.
は — Disambiguation
As already explained in chapter 2‚ in the verb particle section‚ は (pronounced わ) is used to disambiguate statements. As already highlighted in the section on a ributives in the previous chapter‚ だ still has a 終止形 form‚ signifying a ﬁnalised sentence‚ as well as a 連体形 form‚ signifying it is being used a ributively. So‚ if we pair の with a phrase ending on だ‚ it must be changed from ﬁnalised form to a ributive form‚ and so is used as な instead.

Whoever of us says it wants to convey that they watch TV a lot‚ and nothing more.”
た だめ
食べては駄目です。 literally: “Eating it is no good.168
Particles — § 4. 3) テレビはよく見ます By using は‚ everything has changed. While を and が told us only one thing‚ namely the plain information that TV was being watched a lot‚ は tells us two things. First‚ the basic information‚ that someone watched TV a lot.2 Particles
When we use を‚ the sentence is fairly plain information. This makes は very powerful‚ and also makes it very easy to misuse: If you only want to state some information‚ you should not be using は. This using が as an emphasis marker is a fairly common practice‚ although you need to know why you’re emphasising‚ of course.” In these sentences‚ the negative repercussion is explicitly said to apply only in the situations marked by は. In this case‚ the “watching a lot” only applies to TV.” “(You) may not eat this. 2) テレビがよく見ます When we use が‚ the sentence is still plain information‚ although using が rather than を emphasises that whoever is talking about TV‚ is talking about TV. One very common use of this is in the form of social commentary‚ by pairing it with verbal て forms‚ followed by something that represents a negative commentary
だめ
such as the word いけません‚ indicating that something “won’t do”‚ or the word 駄目‚ indicating something is bad:
きょう こ
今日は、来なくてはいけません。 literally: “(you) not coming over today will not do”. “(You) have to drop by today. Also‚ because は is used‚ we know that they don’t apply if whatever は is suﬃxed to doesn’t apply. The speaker has indicated that the information in the sentence requires disambiguation in terms of what it applies to. However‚ if you want to make sure that the context for some information is unmistakable‚ は is exactly the particle you want to use. Of course‚ sometimes it will feel like は isn’t doing this strict disambiguation‚
. However‚ because the speaker felt they needed to make sure that we know it only applies to TV‚ it also tells us that it explicitly does not apply to ﬁlms or DVD rentals.

In the ﬁrst sentence‚ the fact that 今日 has to be mentioned means that the situation of good weather is implicitly being contrasted to some previous‚ poor weather.2 Particles such as in simple sentences like the following:
きょう てんき
169
今日はいい天気ですね。 “Nice weather today‚ isn’t it?”
じつ にほんご へた
実は、日本語に下手です。 “Actually‚ I’m horrible at Japanese. Put concisely‚ は not only tells us the applicable context‚ but also the inapplicable context. Similarly‚ in the second sentence it seems like 実‚ ‘truthfully’ or ‘actually’‚ is fairly innocent‚ but the fact that it has been explicitly mentioned and marked with は means that the information that follows only applies in the context of ‘true information’. (Almost) needless to say‚ this also means you never use は for things you’re asking questions about.” In both sentences‚ the は looks perfectly innocent‚ but it’s actually still doing the exact same thing. For instance‚ in the following example sentences‚ the ﬁrst sentence is ﬁne‚ and the second is very‚ very wrong:
だれ き
誰が来ましたか。 “Who came (over)?” 誰は来ましたか。 “Who‚ as opposed to someone else‚ came (over)?” This second sentence makes absolutely no sense‚ and you should never ever mark subjects of questions with は. So in summary‚ we can characterise は as: [X]は[Y] → in the context of [X]‚ [Y] applies‚ and outside the context of [X]‚ [Y] does not apply. That said‚ you can use は in a question to disambiguate just ﬁne‚ as long as it does not get used for the actual question subject:
. は never just marks applicable context‚ it always — always — also gives the inapplicable context simply by virtue of being used.Particles — § 4. Even when は sounds like it’s just si ing in a sentence as a common courtesy‚ it never loses its additional connotation. Because of this‚ you will typically ﬁnd は referred to as the ‘context’ particle (or ‘topic’ particle) in literature‚ but this is dangerous terminology‚ as it makes it really easy to forget that in addition to indicate context/topic‚ it also indicates the inverse at the same time. If you don’t want to also imply inapplicable context‚ use が — or を — instead. Ever.

” Like と or か‚ it can also be used to form lists:
おんがく
A: 本が好きですか、音楽が好きですか。 B: 本も音楽も好きです。 A: “Do (you) like books‚ or do (you) like music?” B: “(I) like both books and music. The ﬁrst is that it acts as a similarity marker‚ and in this use it replaces the subject が or disambiguation marker は:
わたし ほん す
A: 私 が本が好きです。 B: 私も本が好きです。 A: “I like books. Interestingly‚ this can even be something in the same sentence:
わか もの としうえ もの
若い者も、年上者も、ようこそ。 “Young and old‚ welcome. It requires a prompt either by someone else‚ or by something you yourself just said.” However‚ も marks a similarity to something previously mentioned‚ so you cannot use the particle も out of the blue.” B: “I also like books.2 Particles 最近は誰がよく来ましたか。 “Who’s recently been coming (over)?” literally: “Lately [rather than during some other time frame]‚ who has come (over)?”
も — Similarity
This particle plays two important roles in Japanese.” Here the fact that も is used twice (and it can be used more times) means that the similarity is between all the marked parts of phrase. Because normally も is reserved for responding to some kind of prompt‚ it’s usually a good idea to consider も the Japanese counterpart to the English “too”‚ in the sense of “also”‚ without considering it a valid counterpart to the word “also”‚ since
.170
さいきん
Particles — § 4.

” Or as part of a (short) conversation: A: 座ってもいいですか。 B: はい、いいですよ。 A: “May I sit down?” B: “You may.2 Particles
171
that can be used without any real prompting. A second use of も is as an emphatic contrasting particle‚ meaning something like the English “even [if/by] …”.” A special て form + も is the て+も+いい (よい) construction‚ which asks and grants permission:
つか
コンピュータを使ってもいいですよ。 “Feel free to use (the) computer.Particles — § 4.” Usingも with the て form also means we can use it with て form for the copula‚ which is で‚ forming でも:
せんせい い
先生でもそう言ってます。 “Even the teacher says so. In this use‚ it typically follows て forms:
いま い ま あ
今行っても間に合わないでしょう。 “Even (by) leaving now‚ (you) probably won’t make it. While か creates a vaguely speciﬁc answer‚ も creates an all-encompassing answer:
interrogative なに だれ どこ いつ どう meaning what who where when how with も なにも だれも どこも いつも どうも meaning anything anyone anywhere anytime in any possible way
Unlike for か‚ however‚ when these interrogatives are followed by も they can
.” In addition to these things‚ も can — like か — be combined with interrogatives to form a speciﬁc kind of answer to these interrogatives.

2 Particles
lead to some confusion when translated: they may be translated diﬀerently depending on whether they are followed up by an aﬃrmative‚ or negative verb form.”
Likewise: どこもある。 “(It) exists anywhere. On an equally important note‚ when used with interrogatives this way‚ many additional particles come between the interrogative and も:
interrogative どこも
なに
+ particle に で を
combination どこにも
なん
何も
だれ
何でも
誰をも
誰も
. In Japanese‚ words like いつも or どこも don’t carry any aﬃrmative or negative aspect‚ relying on the verb they’re being used with to impart this meaning instead. So‚ while the same word is used in the following Japanese sentences‚ the English translation uses two seemingly diﬀerent words:
なに
何もします。 “(I) will do anything.”
This is a good example of how translations may create wrong impressions: even though in English these words are answers to the interrogative‚ coming in different versions while the verb stays the same form‚ in Japanese it is the exact opposite‚ with the answer words to the interrogative staying the same‚ and the verb coming in diﬀerent versions depending on which polarity (aﬃrmative or negative) is needed.”
何もしません。 literally‚ “(I) won’t do anything” “(I) will do nothing.172
Particles — § 4.”
どこもない。 literally‚ “(It) doesn’t exist anywhere.” “(It) exists nowhere.

よ — Informative‚ emphatic
This particle is most often found at the end of statements‚ where it marks information as being either new information‚ or contrary to the listener’s belief. While tempting‚ this particle should not be translated with an exclamation mark‚ as よ isn’t actually an exclamation‚ but only emphasises the “new information”/“contrary information” aspect.” 凄く面白かったよ。 “(It) was very fun (you didn’t know or expect this‚ so I’m telling you it was). A stern lecture from a
.” While it would be temping in this use to translate よ with an exclamation mark anyway‚ care should be taken not to overdo things.
4.2 Particles
173
を — Direct verb object
The last particle in the list‚ but also the simplest to explain.Particles — § 4.2 Emphatic particles
There are a number of particles which should be known in order to be able to communicate more than rudimentary ideas‚ in addition to the previous essential particles — that is not to say we cannot create complex constructions with the previous 10 particles‚ but to properly express ourselves we need a few more. The following list is divided into two sections. the ﬁrst focussing mostly on sentence ending emphatic particles‚ and the second focussing on more general grammatical particles.” When よ is used to emphasise contrasting information‚ the situation is usually some kind of misunderstanding:
ちが あたら ふる
違うよ。 新 しいのはここ、古いのはあそこだよ。 “No (emphatic). The new ones (go) here‚ the old ones (go) over there (emphatic).2. We’re already discussed this in chapter 2 in the section on verb particles‚ it’s pronounced as お‚ and there is really nothing else to say about this particle. For instance:
すご おもしろ
凄く面白かった。 “(It) was very fun. In modern Japanese‚ this particle does nothing more than mark a direct verb object.

A secondary use is mid-sentence‚ to draw the a ention of the listener(s). This particle can be drawn out to form ねえ (also found wri en ねー or ねぇ)‚ in which case it does the same thing‚ but expecting less of a response:
やす
休みっていいねえ。 “Holiday’s nice isn’t it…” A response to this is typically just something simple like “うん” (a colloquial “yes”)‚ or “そうねえ” (in meaning similar to “indeed”) without the response having been given much thought.” This use can be overdone‚ too‚ similar to how the ungrammatical use of “like” is common in spoken English‚ but sticking it in every other word makes you positively obnoxious:
.2 Particles
boss‚ for instance‚ might never involve any yelling or even exclamations‚ but might be interspersed lavishly with よ. This is a rhetorical agreement though‚ and using ね means you already expect the response to be something that sounds like an aﬃrmative mu ering:
さかき ほんとう びじん
榊 さんは本当に美人ですね。 “Sakaki is really beautiful‚ isn’t she?” The unlikely event of hearing “no” as a response to this type of rhetorical conﬁrmation seeking is typically met with much surprise and disbelief‚ sparking new depths of conversation since you responded diﬀerently than what was expected of you.174
Particles — § 4. This use is‚ sadly‚ completely and u erly untranslatable‚ so the translation in the following sentence has ね mapped to a commentary instead:
おおさかじん
榊さんはね、本当に大阪人ですよ。 “Sakaki (are you still listening to me?) is actually from Oosaka.
ね — Rhetoric
This particle is placed at the end of a sentence‚ when the speaker wants to provoke the listener into agreeing with them.

If な is accented‚ it’s the conﬁrmation seeking version.Particles — § 4. If it’s unaccented‚ it’s a prohibiting command. (Do you think) maybe (he’s) sick?”
.2 Particles
き まつだ はんじかん ま
175
でね、それがね、来たらね、松田さんがね、もう半時間待ったそうだよ。 “So like‚ then‚ like‚ once I got there like‚ Matsuda had been like‚ waiting for over half an hour‚ apparently. We can also ﬁnd な at the end of a sentence when it’s following a 連用形‚ in which case it can be considered a short version of the 連用形 + なさい commanding form:
お
さっさと起きな。 “Will you get up already?” Luckily‚ this type of command is typically issued in a very stern voice‚ so it’s very hard to mistake it for the other two roles that the sentence ending な can have. However‚ this particle has a problem as sentence ender‚ because (as was explained in chapter 3 in the section on imperatives) な after a 連体形 can also mean a prohibiting command‚ such as in:
あ
開けるな。 “Don’t open (that). Like ね‚ な can have its vowel sound drawn out‚ to form なあ (also wri en なー or なぁ)‚ and just like ね it can be used mid-sentence as an a ention grabber.
さ — Informative‚ emphatic
As a sentence ender‚ さ is a more emphatic version of よ‚ purely being informative.”
な — Strong rhetoric
Using な instead of ね is a more assertive way to do the exact same thing‚ somewhat rhetorically asking for conﬁrmation. Where よ is used either to present new information or contrary information‚ さ is only used for new information:
きょう じゅぎょう で びょうき
今日も 授業 に出なかったさ。もしかして、病気？ “(He) didn’t come to class today either.” The way to tell whether な is a prohibiting command or a conﬁrmation-seeking particle is by intonation. Because this is a more assertive particle‚ it expects more of a response more than ね does.

However‚ it is considered a more explicit a ention grabber than ね or な. The diﬀerence between the two is the perceived objectivity.
ぜ‚ ぞ — Emphatic
These particles are highly informal — to the point of familiar — versions of よ.2 Particles
Like ね and な‚ さ can be used mid-sentence as an a ention grabber. ぜ comes oﬀ as more subjective than ぞ:
しゅみ
つまらない趣味だぜ。 “Well‚ that’s a boring hobby.176
Particles — § 4. You might use them around the house‚ or with your good friends‚ or when trying to sound cool when picking up girls‚ when angry at someone for doing something completely stupid‚ or in any other situation in which informal familiar speech is used.”
しゅみ
つまらない趣味だぞ。 “[In case you didn’t know‚] it’s [just] a boring hobby.”
し — Stative
This particle is used when listing one or more arguments that back up some (possibly merely implied) statement:
おもしろ い い さむ き
面白くなかったよ。行きたくないと言っただろう。寒かったし、よく聞こえ なかって… “(Well) it wasn’t fun. (I) told (you) (I) didn’t want to go‚ didn’t (I)? It was cold‚ (I) couldn’t really hear it all that well…” An example of where the conclusion is already implied requires more of a conversation:
か
A: じゃあ、買わなかった？
たか べつ
じゅうよう
B: まあ、高かったし、別に 重要 なものもないし… A: あ、そっか。
.

Particles — § 4. Be careful not to take this word “more” too literally‚ as し can occur without the actual statement such as in the previous example.2 Particles
177
A: “So‚ (you) didn’t buy it?” (the speaker here is only guessing) B: “Well‚ it was expensive‚ (and) not something that (I) particularly needed…” A: “Ah…(is that how things are)” We see here that‚ while left implied‚ speaker B clearly did not buy whatever the conversation was about.
って — Reiterating
い
This particle is an excessively contracted form of the constructions と言って(も) and として(も)‚ and it can be used in a fashion similar to the quoting particle と:
なん
何ですって？ “What did (you) say?” Somewhat confusingly‚ it’s sometimes also used as a replacement for と in its quoting role:
く い こ
来るって言ったのに、どうして来なかったの。 “Even though (you) said (you) would come over‚ why didn’t (you)?”
っけ — Dubitative
This is a particle that is used when asking oneself a question such as when trying to recall something‚ as well as when asking someone to give an answer that you know they already have:
でんわばんごう なん
電話番号は何だっけ。 “Now what was the phone number again…” “What was the phone number again?”
. While it will often suit the translation to combine multiple -し reasons with “and”‚ as this is the word used for compounding in English‚ a be er translation would be “not just … but also …” or “what’s more‚ …”.

Combined they mean something like “I wonder”/“I guess”:
うえまつ こ
植松さんも来ないかな(あ)。 “(I) guess Uematsu won’t be coming either‚ huh?”
もくようび ひま
木曜日に暇かな(あ)。 “(I) wonder if (I)’m free Thursday…”
かしら — Dubitative
かしら is the eﬀeminate version of かな‚ reserved for women (as well as eﬀeminate homosexuals and transvestites‚ in all fairness). While most particles can be used by either gender but may make someone sound eﬀeminate‚ using this particle as a man makes you sound gay.2 Particles
かな — Dubitative
This is a combination of the questioning particle か and the strong conﬁrmation seeking な. The ﬁrst is as open‚ or non-exhaustive‚ noun lister‚ used similarly to と:
. Of course‚ using this particle as a woman is perfectly ﬁne.”
でんわ おも
今日は電話をかけてくると思うがなあ。 “(She)’ll call today‚ (I) think (I hope)…”
や — Open noun list‚ resignation
There are two roles that や plays.
がな — Hopefulness
This combination of the particles が and な is used to indicate a hope‚ or wishful thinking‚ such as in for instance:
きょう てんき
今日もいい天気だといいがな(あ)。 “It’d be nice if today had good weather too.178
Particles — § 4. Quite literally‚ in fact‚ as it means you are le ing people know that you consider yourself eﬀeminate and wish others to know this.

This means you present a normal statement and ﬁnish it with a form of のです‚ turning it into something close to a factoid‚ which can be interpreted by the listener(s) as a reason for a situation‚ or an explanation of a prior statement.2. That’s perhaps a li le abstract‚ so an example:
.Particles — § 4.
わ — Informative
As sentence ender‚ this particle leads two lives.” Unlike と‚ which presents an inclusive list‚ や leaves this list open‚ typically in a way that allows us to interpret it as meaning “these things‚ and other things like them”.” Finally‚ や at the end of a sentence is in many regions in Japan considered a copula‚ replacing だ.2 Particles
さけ か
179
お酒は、ウイスキーやラムを買った。 “As for drinks‚ I got (us) (amongst other things‚) whiskey and rum. However‚ in this use (both aﬃrmative and negative inﬂections) it is simply a copula‚ not indicating resignation of any kind. In standard Japanese‚ わ is used as an emphatic sentence ender‚ similar to よ‚ but is considered an eﬀeminate particle and as such is used a lot by women‚ but avoided by men. In addition to being the non-exhaustive noun lister‚ we can also use や as a sentence ending particle‚ where it signiﬁes a resignation to one’s fate in the face of hardship:
しかた
仕方がないや。 “(I) guess there’s nothing (I) can do about it. In these regions‚ you may also ﬁnd it inﬂected as negative‚ as やない..3 Further particles
のです‚ んです‚ のだ‚ んだ — Reasoning
A combination of the genitive の (permissibly contracted to ん) and the copula‚ this “particle” — or rather‚ set of particles — can be used as a way to give a reason for something without explicitly stating so. In addition to acting as a sentence ending particle‚ わ can also be used in a role similar to the noun particle や‚ in which case it is an emphatic open listing particle. In the more rural parts of Japan‚ and most readily recognisably in the Kansai area‚ わ is also used as よ‚ but is not considered eﬀeminate in any way and is proliﬁcally used by everyone.
4.

” B: “Yeah‚ (it is due to the fact that) I fell asleep on the train. のです can also be used to ask for a reason‚ paired with a question that would otherwise warrant a yes/no answer.” And then with のです: A: これでいいんですか。
のこ あした きょう おも
B: 残りは明日するんだから、今日はもういいと思うよ。 A: “Is it okay this way?” B: “(We)’ll do the rest tomorrow‚ so (yes‚) I think we can call it a day.2 Particles A: 眠そうね。
でんしゃ
B: ああ。電車で眠ってしまったんだ。 A: そうですか。 A: “You look sleepy.” We see here that a normal —ですか question is a simple “is it?” yes/no question‚ but that using のですか not only asks for a yes/no answer but also the motivation for the yes/no answer (the mixed politeness form between the two lines here may indicate a subordinate talking to their boss).” The “it is due to the fact that” part in the translation for line B is the conceptual translation for のです‚ and is usually best simply left out‚ or if really needed translated with “as” (meaning something similar to “because”‚ but subtly diﬀerent by leaving out the explicit causal link described by “because”). While it’s tempting to translate のです or its other forms んです‚ のだ and んだ as “because”‚ this is not what it means.” A: “Ah‚ I see. There is nothing in のです that actually translates to an explicit “because”‚ so whenever possible do not use this word when translating.180
ねむ
Particles — § 4. Be careful not to start over-using のです‚ ending up using it in situations in which it doesn’t actually make any sense such as in the following example:
. First‚ without のです: A: これでいいですか。 B: はい。 A: “Is it okay this way?” B: “Yes.

”
こしょう ほか つか
故障しているので、他のを使うんです。 “Due to it being broken‚ (you) will (have to) use another one. Rather than stating that you want ice cream‚ アイスがいい‚ the addition of んです suddenly forces the listener to interpret this phrase as a reason for something‚ leading to what is basically a nonsense phrase‚ so be careful: only use のです or a variant when there is something to reason about‚ or you need more information than a simple yes/no answer to a question.Particles — § 4. You’d almost forget there are other things beside these categories‚ but the most fundamental one‚ stating fact‚ is still there and is exactly what this particle is used for:
きょう やす みせ し
今日は休みなので、お店が閉めてあります。 “Due to it being a holiday today‚ the shop is closed.2 Particles
なに
181
A: 何がいいですか。 B: アイスがいいんです。 A: “What will you have?” B: “As I want ice cream. ので is used frequently in oﬃcial documents and formal se ings‚ where stating something as something other than a factoid might lay responsibility for the statement with someone.
. The same holds for ので: it cannot be used for any of these.” In this case‚ using んです is plain and simply wrong.
ので — Cause
This is essentially the continuative form for のです‚ and means “it is that …” in an unﬁnished sentence‚ which is in English typically translated as “due to”.” Because of the fact that this particle can only be used for factoids‚ and cannot be used to express one’s own opinion‚ volition or suggestions‚ it is considered more polite than the next particle‚ から‚ which acts as a general “because”. There is an important distinction between “due to” and “because” that deserves some special a ention: “due to” typically cannot be used to indicate things such as explaining volitional action (I am doing this because…)‚ reasons for requests (I would like … because)‚ personal opinions (I think … because)‚ commands (do … because)‚ and invitations/suggestion (should … because).

The ﬁrst construction uses an open statement (an unﬁnished event if we remember what て stands for) that acts as point of origin for a new event‚ while the second uses a closed statement as a point of origin for a reasoning. The easy way to remember this is that a て form isn’t a ﬁnished verb action‚ so no conclusions can be drawn from it‚ while a 連体形 is for all intents and purposes done‚ and can be used for drawing conclusions and commenting on. Kurogane is a teacher‚ he can also explain (things) well.”
くろがね せんせい じょうず せつめい でき
黒金さんは先生だから上手に説明することも出来ます。 “Because Mr.”
ろくじ しごと
六時から仕事してるんだ。 “(I) work‚ starting at 6 o’ clock. To see this versatility‚ let’s look at several examples to illustrate the diﬀerent uses of this particle‚ in translation:
きょうと なら い
京都から奈良へ行く。 “(We)’re heading from Kyoto in the direction of Nara. Because of this‚ it’s a very versatile particle.”
おく しけん う と
遅れたから試験を受け取られなかった。 “Because (I) was late‚ (I) couldn’t take the exam.2 Particles
から — Temporal‚ spacial or reasoning origin
The broadest deﬁnition that can be given for から is that it signiﬁes the origin of anything‚ be it space related (starting from some point)‚ time (starting at some time)‚ events (starting from the moment after you undertake a particular action)‚ or even reasoning (making an argument that is grounded in a particular perspective).
.” You may have noticed the diﬀerence between the て-form + から in example sentence four‚ and the past tense た + から in example sentence ﬁve.182
Particles — § 4.”
せんたく す き
洗濯をしてからゴミを捨てて来ます。 “After (I) have done the laundry (I)’ll go throw out the garbage.”
らいげつ だいがくせい
来月から大学生です。 “(I)’ll be a university student as of next month.

”
せんたく す
洗濯をするまでゴミを捨てます。 “(I)’ll be throwing out garbage until (I) start doing the laundry.”
ねん
1999年から2004 年まで大学生でした。 “(I) was a student from 1999 to 2004.”
らいげつ だいがくせい
来月まで大学生です。 “(I)’ll be a university student until next month.”
.2 Particles
183
まで — Temporal‚ spacial or reasoning extent (inclusive)
The counterpart to から is the particle まで‚ which signiﬁes the extent and thus end of something‚ rather than the origin. To be more speciﬁc‚ まで signiﬁes an “up to and including” extent:
なら い
奈良まで行く。 “(We)’re going up to Nara.”
ろくじ しちじ うんどう
六時から七時まで運動します。 “(I) will exercise from 6 to 7 o’ clock.”
い
そこまで言うんですか。 “(You)’ve gone too far…” literally: “(How can you) say (something) (to that extent)?” This last sentence is incredibly sparse in terms of actual translation‚ having much more implied translation than literal‚ but illustrates the conceptual ‘extent’‚ where you cannot physically measure saying something‚ but can only conceptually say someone is saying something that is either insigniﬁcant or grave in consequence. Of course‚ から and まで can be used together in the typical “from … to …” pa ern:
きょうと なら い
京都から奈良まで行く。 “(We)’re going from Kyoto up to Nara.”
ろくじ しごと
六時まで仕事しています。 “(I) work till 6 o’ clock.Particles — § 4.

Now‚ this may not have been a very lengthy explanation‚ but it does make
.” meaning: “(We)’ll assemble before 9 o’ clock. This diﬀerence between including the last moment and excluding the last moment can be critical‚ as for instance in the previous example phrases. If we imagine a situation where a group of people are assembling in order to set oﬀ on a journey by bus at 9‚ forge ing the innocent looking に will make the diﬀerence between people enjoying a nice holiday‚ or standing stranded at the bus stop because they missed the deadline and the bus already left. Be careful‚ and pay a ention to whether something is -てから or -たから!
までに — Temporal‚ spacial or reasoning extent (exclusive)
The combination of まで + に is a subtle restriction of the normal particle まで:
くじ あつ
九時まで集まるんです。 “(We)’ll assemble until 9 o’ clock. In fact‚ in legal documents より is still used instead of から.” While まで indicates “up to and including”‚ までに indicates only “up to”‚ or “up until”.” 九時までに集まるんです。 literally: “(We)’ll assemble up until 9 o’ clock.2 Particles
But don’t let the following sentence trip you up:
ともだち よ かれ かえ しゅくだい
友達が寄ってきたから、彼が帰るまで 宿題 をしません。 This sentence does not mean “I will not do homework from the moment my friend arrives until he leaves”‚ but actually means: “Because my friend has dropped by‚ I will not do homework until he leaves.
より — Comparative (classical origin)
Before explaining the modern use‚ it might be useful to explain that より used to play the role that から plays today.184
Particles — § 4.” This sentence is not a “from … up till …” sentence‚ but a reason marked with から‚ where the conclusion happens to contain まで.

ながら — Performing two acts at the same time
This particle‚ which follows a verbs in 連用形‚ or verbal adjectives and nouns directly‚ signiﬁes that two actions are taking place at the same time‚ for the same duration of time. In English‚ however‚ we tend to list the dominant action ﬁrst‚ mentioning the other thing we’re doing almost as an afterthought.” which makes the somewhat abstract explanation earlier clearer. Typically‚ より gets translated with “rather than”‚ but this can be confusing because より usually does not link the two things being compared‚ as in English‚ but links the reference point and the quality.” The reason we can do this is because qualities‚ as you hopefully remember from the section on a ributive and comparative use of adjectives‚ can be either attributive (a ributing their quality) or comparative (being used to indicate they apply more to one thing than another). As such‚ 甘いです doesn’t just mean “it is sweet”‚ but can mean “it is sweeter” just as easily. We could even leave the compared item out entirely‚ relying on context to make it clear what it was supposed to be: 食パンより甘いです。 “(it) is sweeter than dinner bread.Particles — § 4.” The second part‚ ご飯を食べました‚ is the dominant action here‚ which is why it comes last.2 Particles
185
understanding why より does what it does in modern Japanese easier: in modern Japanese‚ より is used to label something as a reference point for a comparison:
しょく あま
アンパンは 食 パンより甘いです。 Literally this line reads “Anpan (アンパン)‚ with respect to dinner bread (食 パンより)‚ is sweeter (甘い). On a timing note‚ ながら implies that the two actions are roughly of equal
. When paired with より‚ considering the adjective a comparative is the be er interpretation. In the previous sentence‚ for instance‚ 食パ ンより is the reference point‚ and the quality is 甘い‚ sweet. This particle is sometimes translated with “while”‚ but this is typically more confusing than helpful because of the way Japanese clauses are ordered (the most important clause coming last):
み はん た
テレビを見ながらご飯を食べました。 “(I) ate dinner while watching the TV.

”
がてら — Performing one act during another
Like ながら‚ がてら comes after verbs in 連用形 or directly after verbal adjectives and nouns‚ but unlike ながら‚ it does not claim two actions to be perfectly synchronous. This might seem odd‚ since it might seem to contradict the practice of pu ing the most important part last‚ but actually the short action is dominant: since the long verb action is going on anyway‚ the shorter action represents more speciﬁc‚ and thus more important‚ information:
ともだち えき おく か もの
友達を駅まで送りがてら買い物した。 “While bringing (my) friend to the station‚ (we also) did (some) shopping.186
Particles — § 4. Rather‚ usually a continuative is used instead‚ such as:
とうきょう い か もの
東京 に行って買い物をしました。 “I went to Tokyo (and) did (some) shopping (while there).2 Particles
duration‚ and we cannot use it for something like “I did some shopping while visiting Tokyo today”.” がてら can also be wri en がてらに‚ explicitly using the particle に to mark the act as a time frame in which the more speciﬁc act takes place.” In addition to the obvious interpretation‚ ながら can also be used to mean
ざんねん
‘but’ or ‘even though’‚ especially when paired with the noun 残念‚ “unfortunate”:
かんたん こと
残念ながら、そう簡単な事じゃありません。 “I’m sorry‚ but ma ers are not that simple. Instead‚ the particle がてら is used for this kind of momentary simultaneous action‚ if a particle is used at all. Instead‚ the verb in 連用形 + がてら indicates the longer verb action‚ with the sentence ﬁnalising verb indicating the shorter one.”
. As mentioned in the section on ながら‚ often a continuative verb form is used rather than がてら‚ but this does come at a price: using the て form means we also indicate a sequence of events‚ so that we cannot rephrase the previous sentence as follows‚ without changing its meaning: 友達を駅まで送って買い物した。 “I escorted my friend to the station‚ (and then) did (some) shopping.

All of these‚ however‚ follow 連体形 phrases. English: “This is true. That said‚ both けれども and けども contain the emphatic も‚ while けれど and けど do not‚ which makes け れども and けども more contrastive than けれど and けど.”
ほか ようそ
Japanese: そうだけど、他の要素もある。 In this sentence‚ the pause is after けど‚ which is simply a contracted form of けれども. Strangely enough‚ they both mean the same thing‚ but the way they do it is just syntactically diﬀerent.
. However‚ there are more things at play. In fact‚ けれども has four variants: けれども‚ けれど‚ けども and け ど.2 Particles
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つつ — Performing an act while some situation is the case
As the last particle for indicating “doing something while something else is the case”‚ we ﬁnd the particle つつ.”
けれども — Contrastive: “however”
While the English “however” comes at the start of a sentence and is followed by a comma‚ the Japanese けど comes mid-sentence (and may also be followed by a comma).Particles — § 4. In classical Japanese these all had subtly diﬀerent meanings‚ けれども being a combination of the verb form けれ (the 已然形 for ける) and the classical compound particle ども‚ but in modern Japanese they can be used essentially interchangeably‚ as long as the “the longer‚ the more polite” rule is observed. This particle is more general than ながら or がてら in that there are no time constraints of any sort (this particle follows verbs in 連用形):
じぶん せい し ひてい
自分の所為で知りつつ、否定するつもりですか。 “Do you intend to deny (it)‚ while knowing full well it was (your) own fault?” Note that because this particle has no time aspect to it‚ we can also use it for things such as:
みせ えき ひだり み ま す
お店は駅を 左 に見つつ、真っ直ぐです。 “The shop is straight on‚ with the station to your left.

” meaning: “Ge ing be er the more (you) do it.188
ほど
Particles — § 4.” Hopefully this makes the following sentence understandable:
びじゅつ み うつく
美術は見れば、見るほど 美 しい。 Before oﬀering the translation‚ I’ll give you the translation for the individual words‚ in the hope that what I end up oﬀering is a translation that seems obvious: 美 術 means art‚ 見る means ‘to watch/to look at’ and 美しい means beautiful.” In eﬀect‚ this [X]ほど[Y] sets up a proportional relation between the concepts X and Y. Literally this sentence would come down to “Art‚ should one look at it‚ to the extent of looking at it‚ it’s beautiful”.” meaning: “As tasty as it is pricey. This marking of extent is quite useful when comparing items: where the construction [X]も[Y]も gives a similarity‚ and the construction [X]より[Y] makes Y more “something” than [X]‚ the construction [X]ほど[Y] marks the extent of Y the being same as for X. If so‚ then good. For instance:
たか おい
高いほど美味しい。 literally: “To the extent that it is pricey‚ it is tasty. Similarly‚ 高いほど would be ‘the extent of the height’‚ etc. For this reason‚ it’s probably easiest to say that 程 stands for ‘extent’ of actions‚ consequences‚ or even of properties. If not‚ then that’s in line with what many people experience when they ﬁrst come across ほ
. For instance‚
たか
するほど would translate to “the extent of doing”.2 Particles
程 — Extent
This particle is not so hard to use‚ but it has a particular pa ern of use that sometimes confuses people when they ﬁrst learn it. Another example to illustrate this:
じょうず
するほど上手になる。 literally: “To the extent of doing it‚ one gets be er (at it). The trick is now of course to turn this literal translation into something that actually makes sense in English: “As far as Art is concerned‚ the more (often) (you) look at it‚ the more beautiful it is.” Hopefully at this point you’ll go “yes‚ that’s obvious”.

” That’s really all there is to it.Particles — § 4.
Negative extent
Just as ほど can be used for a “the more [X]‚ the more [Y]”‚ it can be used to construct a negative “The more X‚ the less Y” sentence:
くるま やす はし
車 は安いほど走られないものだ。 “The cheaper cars are‚ the less (well) they run. The thing to remember is that [已然形＋ば + 連体形 + ほど] is a single semantic block meaning “to the extend of doing X”‚ so the Japanese may have the verb twice‚ but the translation only needs it once.” The reason it means this is that the extents of the initial verb action 聞く and the conclusion 分かってくる are linked by ほど. The only additional rule is that しか follows verbs in 連体形‚ or nouns directly:
. Another example using this pa ern is:
き わ
聞けば聞くほど分かってくるよ。 “The more (you) hear it‚ the be er (you)’ll understand it. Instead‚ remember that しか does not mean ‘only’‚ but means ‘save’ or ‘except’‚ as used in for instance “I didn’t do a dang thing today‚ save/except eat”:
きょう た なに
今日は食べることしか何もしなかった。 “Today (I) did nothing except eat.2 Particles
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ど used in this particular sense.” One of the things that tends to trip up people a lot with ほど is the fact that even though the Japanese pa ern has three verbs‚ the English translation has only two. The pa ern used here is quite particular: with [X] a verb and [Y] some statement‚ “([X] in 已然形+ば) [X] ほど [Y]” translates to “The more one [X]‚ the more [Y]”.
しか — Save‚ except
This particle is sometimes translated with “only”‚ but when it is‚ it typically needs a very strange and contrived explanation.

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せんせい
Particles — § 4. Both claim that one person performed a task‚ but the sentence with だけ sounds far more positive than the one with しか.” However‚ while だけ is used to indicate a particular instance‚ for the habitual or repetitive version of just/only‚ such as in for instance “why do you always only eat caramel ﬂavoured ice cream?”‚ the particle ばかり (or its variants ばっかり‚ ばかし‚ ばっかし or ばっか) is used. だけ can also be used with verbs in 連体形 form:
ひとこと い わ
一言言うだけで分かりました。 “(He) understood (it) with just one word. This word is special because it’s part of a pair that expresses almost the
.
Special use
でき
The verb 出来る‚ “to be able to do” in combination with だけ creates a special word: 出来るだけ.” Notice that these two phrases connote very diﬀerent things‚ even though they share the same basic idea.”
だけ — Only
Unlike しか‚ だけ does mean ‘only’‚ and is typically followed by the instrumental particle で to indicate something is done in some restricted way:
ひとり
一人だけでしました。 “(I) did it just by myself.2 Particles 先生しかいない。 “(There) is no one but (the) teacher.” The same idea can be expressed with しか‚ but then the phrasing needs to be drastically altered:
わたし
私 しかしなかった。 “No one did it except for me. The second sentence sounds almost accusative‚ which is a direct consequence of the fact that し か means save‚ and thus needs to be used with a negative verb‚ as well as with an unnamed party in this case.

Inverting using でなく
The meaning for だけ can also be inverted by adding でなく‚ the continuative of で す followed by the 連用形 of ない‚ to form a construction meaning “not just” or “as well as”:
うんてん じょうず うんてんしゅ
運転だけでなく、メカニックスにも上手な運転手です。 literally: “Not just (at) driving‚ but also at (the) mechanics‚ he’s a really competent driver.”
.Particles — § 4. The ﬁrst essentially works as a command‚ saying to drop everything and do whatever the sentence says to do‚ provided this is at all possible (hence the 出来る)‚ while the second doesn’t demand quite this much‚ due to the words that it’s made up of: a combination of なる‚ to become‚ and the 連用形 of the classical‚ very odd‚ verb べし (which deﬁes modern word classes)‚ used to indicate a social expectation.2 Particles
191
same thing‚ but not quite: 出来るだけ and なるべく. Both express “as … as possible” but there’s a subtle diﬀerence:
はや き くだ
出来るだけ早く来て下さい。 “Please come as quickly as possible.” なるべく早く来て下さい。 “Please come as quickly as possible.”
ばかり — Just‚ only
As mentioned in the explanation of だけ‚ ばかり is used for things that are repetitive or drown out everything else‚ such as in the following sentence for instance:
つ ひと きら
うそばかり付ける人が嫌いです。 “(I) hate people who only tell lies.” meaning: “(He)’s a driver who’s not just good at the wheel‚ but also knows his way around the mechanics of a car.” The diﬀerence between the two is that 出来るだけ expresses “do whatever you can to …”‚ whereas なるべく expresses “at your earliest convenience” or even just “if possible”.

But this one has a problem too.
でも — Strong emphatic
This particle is actually a combination of the continuative form of the copula です‚ で‚ and も as contrastive emphatic marker.e.192
Particles — § 4. Finally‚ ばっかり‚ or ばっかし can be further contracted to the highly informal ばっか‚ not to be confused with the popular term バカ‚ used when someone messes something up. It may also be used as ばかし or ばっかし without any serious diﬀerence‚ other than that ばかし sounds a bit more eﬀeminate than ばかり.”
あたら か もんだい
新 しいのを買った。でも、これもまた問題があります。 “[I] bought a new one.2 Particles
In this sentence‚ ばかり has to be used if we want to indicate not just telling a lie once or twice‚ but always telling lies‚ i.” Like か and も‚ this combination can be used in combination with interrogatives‚ in which case it forms extremes:
interrogative なに だれ どこ いつ どう meaning what who where when how with でも なんでも だれでも どこでも いつでも どうでも meaning anything at all anyone and everyone wherever whenever however (“in whichever way”)
It should be noted that while technically‚ as with も‚ particles come between the question word and でも‚ it is not uncommon to place them after the combination of interrogative + でも:
. Together‚ they form a strong emphatic marker that can be translated with “even”‚ “regardless of” or “but even then”:
せんせい わ
先生でも分かりませんよ。 “Even the teacher doesn’t know. Another use is with verbs in plain past tense‚ to indicate that the verb action has been completed only‚ or just‚ moments ago:
つく
作ったばかりのクッキー “cookies that have just been made” ばかり can also be wri en ばっかり‚ in which case it carries just a bit more emphasis. only telling lies rather than truths. Like だけ‚ ばかり’s meaning can be inverted by using でなく.

In this use‚ the commentary is always something constrasting or unexpected/unlikely.” However‚ as a ‘ﬁxed’ combination particle のに‚ the interpretation is rather diﬀerent:
じっさい すご じょうず
まだ十歳なのに、ピアノが凄く上手です。 “Despite being only 10 years old‚ (she)’s incredibly proﬁcient at playing the piano.Particles — § 4.
とか — Representative
This particle is used in the same way as と or や‚ acting as a noun lister.” (note that‚ in this sentence‚ the な preceding のに is the 連体形 form of the copula だ) What happens here is that の sets up a fact‚ about which a commentary is made‚ with the fact marked as details to the commentary by using に. When used‚ it sets up a representative list‚ and because it’s representative only‚ it can be used for either a single term‚ or for multiple terms:
.”
おい
その美味しそうなのにしましょう。 “Let’s have that tasty looking one.2 Particles だれでも + の can become either だれのでも or だれでもの いつでも + を can become either いつをでも or いつでもを どこでも + で can become either どこででも or どこでもで どうでも + に can become either どうにでも or どうでもに
193
However‚ for most of these combinations there tends to be a preference for one or the other‚ so どうにでも tends to be preferred over どうでもに‚ while だれでも の tends to be preferred over だれのでも.
のに — Despite
This particle should not be confused with a loose combination of の and に‚ such as in the following sentences:
いしかわ なに か
石川さんのに何かが書いてありそうです。 “It seems like there’s something wri en on Ishikawa’s (something).

” This has the same meaning as 何か白い物が浮いている‚ but is considered more formal literary.”
の もの た もの か
飲み物とか食べ物とか買ってきた。 “(I) went to buy stuﬀ like food and drinks. Like とか‚ it can be used either for listing‚ or for single representative statements.2 Particles 刺身とか嫌いだ。 “(I) hate things like sashimi. This colloquial version is not used for the listing version of など‚ but only for its single use:
やすもの きょうみ
安物なんかに興味がないよ。 “(I) don’t care for (things like) cheap stuﬀ.
.”
やら — Uncertainty
This particle indicates an element of uncertainty in the speaker‚ such as for instance:
ま あ
どうやら間に合ったようですね。 “It looks like (we) somehow made it in time‚ doesn’t it?” It acts similar to か‚ used after interrogatives to create a vaguely speciﬁc answer to the interrogative:
なに しろ もの う
何やら白い物が浮いている。 “There seems to be something white ﬂoating (there). This particle has come from
なに なん
何と through 何ど to the current など.194
さしみ きら
Particles — § 4. The colloquial version of this particle is‚ somewhat surprisingly‚ なんか. Other than どう‚ forming どうやら‚ there are essentially no interrogatives that are used with やら in spoken Japanese.”
など — (Vaguely) representative
This is a rough listing particle‚ similar to とか in use.

”
さんじっぷん
B: 三十分くらい読みましょうか。 B: “Let (me) read for about 30 minutes. Again‚ the best way to learn when this is is to hear it used often enough to get a feel for it.” Similar to くらい‚ the use of ころ vs.”
いちにち じかん
C: 一日に３時間ぐらい読みます。 C: “(I) read about 3 hours a day.”
わ
D: それぐらい分かってるよ。 D: “(I) understand that much (now explain the parts I don’t understand yet).
かあ さんじ むか く
母さんが三時ごろ迎えに来るって。 “Mom said she’d come to pick (us) up around 3.
ころ‚ ごろ — Loose time frame
While くらい is used for estimation of extent‚ ころ is used for estimation of a moment in time.” The diﬀerence between the normal unvoiced version‚ くらい‚ and the voiced version‚ ぐらい‚ is that the second is a more colloquial‚ relaxed version of the ﬁrst.Particles — § 4. This means that the context in which they’re used is subtly diﬀerent. For instance “I need to be at work around 9” would be an instance where こ ろ rather than ぐらい would be used‚ since this does not concern some measurable extent‚ but a clock time. The best way to get a feel for which to use when is to hear them used often enough.2 Particles
195
くらい‚ ぐらい — Estimated extent
This particle is used to estimate an extent of quantity‚ duration‚ frequency or even reasoning:
よ
A: とりあえず、５０ページくらい読まなければなりません。 A: “(I) need to read about 50 pages for now. ごろ is mostly dictated by whether or not it’s okay to use a colloquially relaxed version.
.

.” Here きり is used to indicate that the event of meeting this person was a singular event. It is mostly a question of hearing it often enough to develop a feel for which is best in which se ing.” Here‚ きり is used to make it explicit that there was no one else to even do the job other than “myself”.” Here the act of “going to Japan” has been performed once‚ and きり is used to indicate that this once is understood as “once and only once”‚ rather than the “once” as used in for instance “I’ve been there once when it was hot‚ and …” which actually doesn’t preclude having gone to a place multiple times. Added to a clause‚ it indicates that a “this and only this” clause is in eﬀect.2 Particles
きり‚ ぎり‚ っきり — Only‚ merely
きり‚ and its voiced and stopped versions ぎり and っきり are used to “single things
き
out”.196
Particles — § 4. They’ve come from 切る‚ to cut‚ and this is an indication of how they’re used.” We see that this sentence doesn’t actually rule out the possibility that others may have been available to help out‚ and that in this case we did it ourselves for whatever reason. To make this a bit more clear‚ a few examples:
にほん いちど い
日本にはただ一度行ったきりです。 “(I) have been to Japan (only) once.
しごと ひとり
その仕事を一人きりでしたんだ。 “(I) did that job all (alone) by (myself). The diﬀerence between using きり‚ ぎり and っきり is mainly a colloquial one‚ related to ‘what sounds good’. In contrast‚ the line with きり says that at the time of doing this job‚ there was just me‚ and no one else. If we compare this sentence to a similar sentence that uses だけ instead we see: その仕事を一人だけでしたんだ。 “(I) did that job alone. In colloquially relaxed speech‚ ぎり will work be er than きり‚ and if one wants to put extra emphasis on the “singling out”‚ っきり works be er than きり.
ひと あ ご つ あ
あの人には一度会ったきりで、その後は付き合ってませんでした。 “(I)’ve only met that person once‚ (I) haven’t been with them since.

” literally: “Oranges are per one (being the same for each)‚ 80 yen.” In the second line‚ there is an equal distribution of how many items are distributed over a certain number of people‚ using …に…ずつ:
ほん ふたり いっさつ わ あ ひと はちじゅうえん
本は二人に一冊ずつ分け合うんだ。 “Each pair will (have to) share one book.Particles — § 4.” literally: “As for the books‚ to two people‚ one book (to each group of two) will be shared”
こそ — Emphatic‚ appropriating
This particle can be considered similar in function to も‚ except instead of just likening two things to each other‚ こそ can also “shift” the properties of the original to the instance it is suﬃxed to instead. If I had paid more a ention to what was going on…” Aside from an embarrassing moment‚ speaker B uses こそ with こちら (which is used to refer to himself in this case) to make the act of apologising apply to him more than to speaker A‚ thus “shifting” the need to apologise from A to B instead. こ そ can also be used on its own‚ in which case it is perceived as contrasting the stated to everything else‚ typically being translatable with “exactly” or “precisely”:
. This may sound a bit strange‚ so an example will hopefully make it clearer:
おも
A: ああ、どうもすみません。ボーとしてて思わずぶつかって…
わたし
B: いいえ、いいえ。こちらこそすみません。 私 がもっとしっかりしてた ら… A: “Ah‚ I’m sorry‚ Not looking at where I was going and just walking into you like that…” B: “No‚ no‚ it should be me who should be apologising. For instance “These oranges are 80 yen a piece” or “Every pair will share 1 book”.2 Particles
197
ずつ — Equal distribution
This particle is used to indicate some equal distribution of something‚ over something else. In the ﬁrst line‚ there’s an equal distribution of price over every orange: オレンジが一つずつで 八十円 だ。 “Oranges are 80 yen a piece.

もの — Experience‚ social custom‚ because
もの is used to conceptualise something as real‚ be it tangible or intangible. Because of this‚ it can fulﬁl a few roles‚ such as listing an experience:
わたし こども とき ただ そだ

私 たちは子供の時に正しく育ったもの。 “We were raised properly when we were children.” Here もの indicates that 正しく育った is a real‚ albeit intangible‚ thing. Because it is past tense‚ the only real thing it can be is the speaker’s own experience. When used with present tense‚ the only way intangible things can be real is if they are somehow common place‚ or social customs:
ひと めいわく

人に迷惑をかけないものです。 literally: “It is a thing to ‘not be a bother to people’.” “One should not cause problems for others.” Colloquially‚もの can be shortened toもん‚ but this typically makes the speaker sound “childish”:
まえ す く

The particle かも is actually the expression かも知れません with the verb left oﬀ. This construction is used to indicate something ‘might be’ the case‚ and is used quite frequently in every day language:

Particles — § 4.2 Particles
か たか

199

A: えっ？買うのか？高いでしょう？ B: そうかも、ね。だが、ぴったりじゃないですか？ A: “Eh? You’re going to buy it? Don’t you think it’s (a li le) expensive?” B: “Maybe… But then again‚ isn’t it exactly (what we want)?” There is no functional diﬀerence between using かも and using かも知れま せん‚ although again the “the longer it is‚ the more formal polite your speech” rule applies‚ so かも is less formal than かも知れん which is less formal than かも知れな い‚ which in turn is less formal than かも知れません. Typically‚ you’ll either use か も知れません or かも.

4.2.4 Enrichment
The following set of particles conists mostly of “interesting” particles‚ and rare or literary particles that you may encounter every now and then. However‚ they go well beyond basic Japanese and you can safely ignore them if you wish. They have been included mostly for completeness‚ given that you will invariably run across them every now and then while reading Japanese books or manga‚ or watching Japanese ﬁlms or TV.

さえ — Even‚ merely
Typically used preceded by で‚ さえ is yet another “even”‚ being similar to でも‚ or だ け. However‚ where だけ means “only” in the “just” way‚ さえ means “only” in the “at least”/“as long as only” way:
こども し

子供でさえ知ってるよ。 “Even children know this.”
こうし けってん まぬか

孔子でさえ欠点あるが 免 れなかった。 “Even Confucius was not free of ﬂaws.”
かね

お金さえあれば、のんびりしててもいい。 “As long as (you) (just) have money‚ (you) can take it easy.”

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Particles — § 4.2 Particles

すら — Not even
This particle is related to さえ in a way similar to how しか and だけ are related‚ and is followed by a negative to express a “not even” construction:
てがみ まんぞく か

手紙すら満足に書けない。 “(I) cannot even write a le er to (my) satisfaction.” This particle is considered rather literary.

とも — Emphasis
This particle‚ while a combination ofと + も‚ doesn’t actually act as a similarity marker as you might expect‚ but instead is actually used to stress the preceding noun or noun phrase in a sentence:
きみ い とお

君の言う通りだとも。 “It’s (exactly) as you say.” This particle comes after 連体形 constructions.

なり — Either/or‚ as soon as
This particle can mean two things‚ depending on whether it’s used on its own or as a two-item “list”:
こま ちち はは そうだん

困ったときには、父なり母なりに相談することです。 “When (you)’re troubled‚ (you) should talk to either (your) mother or father.” literally: “When troubled‚ the concept is to consult (your) father or mother.” This list use is very diﬀerent from the singular use:
つか かえ ばん はん た ね

疲れていたから、帰るなり晩ご飯を食べずに寝てしまった。 “Because (she) was tired‚ (she) went to bed the moment (she) got home‚ without having dinner.” Here the literal translation would be “Because (she) was tired‚ the moment (she) got home‚ (she) went to bed without eating dinner.”

Particles — § 4.2 Particles

201

ものの — Even though
This combination particle is quite interesting; the combination of もの with の is functionally equivalent to the particles け(れ)ど(も) and のに:
か つか かた ぜんぜん わ

「MacBook」を買ったものの、使い方が全然分からない。 “Even though (I) bought a MacBook‚ (I) actually don’t know how to use it at all.” This sentence isn’t signiﬁcantly diﬀerent from the same sentence using のに or けど: 「MacBook」を買ったのに、使い方が全然分からない。 “Even though (I) bought a MacBook‚ (I) actually don’t know how to use it at all.” 「MacBook」を買ったけど、使い方が全然分からない。 “(I) bought a MacBook. However‚ (I) actually don’t know how to use it at all.” The similarity will typically be closer to け(れ)ど(も) than to のに‚ as the use of もの creates a factoid‚ and the の is used to relate the concluding remark to this factoid‚ in a manner that could be described as genitive: (「MacBook」を買ったもの) の (使い方が全然分からない。) (“I bought a MacBook”)’s (“I do not know how to use it at all”)

ものか — Emphatic negative
This is simply the sentence ending もの‚ used to indicate a custom or social expectation of sorts‚ followed by the question particle か in its “Like I …” meaning:
し

そんなこと知るものか。 “Like (I) would (be expected to) know something like that!” As mentioned in the explanation of か‚ this is one of the rare instances where you will nearly always be able to translate the construction with an exclamation mark‚ due to the use of this particularly expressive か. Notice that this sentence is almost the same as:

202 そんなこと知るか。 “Like (I) would know something like that!”

Particles — § 4.2 Particles

The only diﬀerence is that the use of もの makes the statement question the expectation‚ rather than the act: そんなこと知るか。 “Like (I) know something like that!” そんなこと知るものか。 “Like (I) (should) know something like that!”

もので — Reasoning
This is just the particle もの‚ used to indicate a custom or social expectation‚ paired with the continuative form of the copula‚ で‚ to create an implicit reason:
きゃく めいわく おとな しず すわ

のみ — Nothing but
The particle のみ is a literary particle comparable in meaning to だけ or ばかり‚ and is used in essentially the same way‚ marking something as an “only thing” or “only option”:
そつぎょう かんが しかん わす

卒業 のみで 考 えて試験がまだあるのを忘れないもの。 “If (you)’re only thinking about graduating‚ don’t forget that there are still exams to be taken.”
いま ま

今のはただ待つのみです。 “(And) now all we (can) do (is) wait.” Unlike だけ or ばかり‚ which are followed by でなく‚ the particle のみ is followed by ならず when the opposite of its meaning is required:

Particles — § 4.2 Particles
けんきゅうしゃ ちゅうがくせい わ せつめい

203

研究者 のみならず、 中学生 が分かるように説明してください。 “Please explain things in such a way that middle schoolers‚ not just researchers‚ can understand it.” This particle is considered literary.

どころ + Negative — Extent‚ impossibility
This particle is typically used in the pa ern […]どころではない‚ to indicate an impossibility:
いそが りょこう

こう 忙 しくては旅行するどころではない。 “Being this busy‚ it’s impossible (for me) to go on a trip.” It can also be used in a way similar to ほど to indicate an extent:
こま さわ

困るどころの騒ぎじゃない。 “No need to cause a fuss over this problem.” This sentence is somewhat hard to properly translate due to どころ‚ and a more literal translation would be “this isn’t [something that should be] caused a fuss [over] to the extent that [you are] troubled”.
ところ

This is technically a voiced version of 所 ‚ which will be treated in the section on nominalisers in the chapter on language pa erns.

どころか — Emphatic
This particle is somewhat akin to より‚ except it only applies to events or circumstances‚ and is much stronger than より. It creates a construction that can be translated with “Instead of …‚ [something which implies the total opposite]” by following the 連体形:
ともだち あそ ひとばん しゅくだい

友達と遊ぶどころか、一晩に 宿題 をしたんだ。 “Instead of going out with (my) friends‚ (I) spent the entire night working on (my) homework.”

204

Particles — § 4.2 Particles

だの — Representative
This particle hangs somewhere betweenと and や when making a list. It creates a list of items‚ but also implies that this list is representative of something. For instance:
いぬ ねこ いろ か

犬だの猫だの、色んなものを飼っている。 “Dogs‚ cats‚ we keep all sorts of pets.” While the list doesn’t actually imply that there may be more than just dogs and cats‚ unlike や‚ the list alone is already considered something representative of‚ in this case‚ “all sorts of”. And unlike と‚ this list doesn’t have to be inclusive. It could be that whoever says this may also have birds and rabbits‚ but then again‚ they may just as well not.

にて — Formal で
This is the literary equivalent to the instrumental and location of an event marking particle で (but not the 連用形 for です).

には — Contrastive
This is a reasonably simple combination of the particle に and the disambiguating particle は‚ but it deserves special mention because a lot of people new to Japanese abuse it a lot‚ using には instead of just に. A good example of this would be for instance:
ほん

テーブルに本がある。 “There is a book on the table.” There will be people who after a while start to ignore that this is a proper sentence‚ and instead say things like: テーブルには本がある。 “There is a book on the table (as opposed to the ﬂoor‚ or the couch‚ or the shelf‚ or whatever context it might be contrasted to).” It should always be remembered that には disambiguates. It doesn’t just specify a location or point/frame in time‚ but also adds a contrast between this location or time and every other. This is a very important distinction that you should try not to

Particles — § 4.2 Particles

205

forget. If you’re tempted to use には‚ ﬁrst ask yourself if you actually need to disambiguate anything. If not‚ just use に. Don’t use the additional は because you think it “sounds good”‚ because it adds a lot of extra meaning that you probably don’t intend to add. That said‚ a proper use would for instance be:
もの

ここにはそんな物はないよ。 “(We) don’t have those kind of things here.” In this sentence‚ the は makes sense‚ because no doubt there will be other places where “those kind of things” can in fact be found. Just not “here”.

いな

や否や — Simultaneous action
This particle is similar to なり in that it is used to talk about two actions taking place in succession. It can be translated as ‘the minute [X]‚ [Y]’ or ‘no sooner than [X]‚ [Y]’. It’s a relatively rare particle‚ but then that’s what enrichment is all about. It follows 連体形 constructions:
だいがく で けっこん

大学を出るや否や結婚しました。 “No sooner than they had graduated‚ they got married.” This is considered a fairly literary particle‚ and is found more in writing than in speech.

だって — Generalisation
While considered a colloquial emphatic version of でも‚ this particle is actually a contraction of the copula だ and the classical particle とて‚ which has functionally been replaced in modern Japanese by たって/って.
わ

じいちゃんだって、それぐらい分かるよ。 “Even grandpa knows that.” In this role‚ it’s not really diﬀerent from でも. だって can also be used in a listing fashion‚ in which case it stands for a pa ern similar to “whether …‚ or … [or …]‚ it’s all the same”:

” (the translation of 仲間 is actually more nuanced than ‘friend’‚ referring to being part of the in-group)
As can be seen from this sentence‚ the ﬁnal clause applies to all the “items” listed using だって in this fashion. Just like the て form‚ this “particle” contracts with verbs whose
あそ
—た/—て forms have contractions‚ so for instance 遊ぶ‚ “play”‚ becomes 遊んだって.2 Particles 君だって、僕だって、みんな仲間だ。 “You‚ me‚ we’re all friends. Hadn’t those two broken up?” In this sentence the speaker expresses a surprise over hearing what is being quoted‚ and explains this surprise with the following sentence.
たって — Generalisation
Similar to how だって is considered a variant of でも‚ たって is considered a variant of the verbal —ても.” Also‚ when wri en as ったって this particle stands for the contraction of
い
と言っても. Used in this way‚ its meaning is similar to と言っても or としても:
いま なお むだ
今それを直そうったって無駄だ。 “It’s pointless to try to ﬁx it now.”
. A ﬁnal role played by だって is as sentence ending particle‚ in which case it acts as a quotation that the speaker is surprised about:
どようび かれ ふたり わ
土曜日も彼とデートだからだって。あの二人、別かれなかったか？ “(She) said it was because (she) had a date with him on Saturday.206
きみ ぼく なかま
Particles — § 4. Notice that these are two separate sentences. the full stop is very much required after だって in this use.
いまさら い おく
今更言ったって、もう遅れたわ。 “Even if (you) say so now‚ it’s too late (now).

Particles — § 4. This is a very informal way to grab someone’s a ention as well as to point out that they should listen to you: ね。ね ！ねったら ！ “Hey. Hey! I said hey!”
ってば — Calling a ention
い
This particle is a contraction of と言えば (“when talking about …”) and is often used to grab someone’s a ention‚ similar to ったら:
き
おい、聞いてるかよ。お∼い。おいってば ！ “Hey‚ are (you) listening or what? Helloooo? I said‚ hello!?”
なんと — Extreme emphatic
なに
This particle is essentially the question word 何 paired with the quoting particle と‚ to create an emphatic “what” such as in “what a pre y bird” or “you did what??”:
ほしぞら
なんときれいな星空だなぁ。 “What a pre y starry sky.” Literally‚ this sentence uses the noun form for ‘being delighted’.
きたい よろこ おお
期待していなかっただけに、 喜 びは大きい。 “Because (I) I hadn’t been expecting it‚ (I) was most delighted.
ったら — Calling a ention
い
This particle is a contraction of と言ったら‚ and like the next particle‚ is used to catch someone’s a ention if you’ve been talking to them and they’re being unresponsive.”
.2 Particles
207
だけに — Reasoning
A combination of だけ + に‚ this compound particle expresses “since …”‚ “because …” similar to ので.

” (This is a semantic translation‚ literally B says “For no (good) reason”‚ as an open sentence)
い
The colloquial version‚ なんて‚ can also be used to mean 何と言う‚ and is typically used in an exclamatory fashion:
こと
なんて事をしたんだ？ “What (on earth) did (you) do?”
までも — Impossibility
This is just まで combined with the emphatic も‚ to create a construction signifying extreme extent‚ similar to にしても: そこまでもするんですか。 literally: “Up to the extent of (some speciﬁc thing)‚ (you) would do so?” meaning: “(You) would go that far?” までも can be used with the question words いつ (when) and どこ (where) to create the words いつまでも‚ meaning “up to any moment in time” (“until when”) and どこまでも‚ meaning “up to any place” (“up till any place”):
み
いつまでもテレビを見るつもり？ literally: “Up to which moment in time do you intend to watch TV?” meaning: “Just how long do (you) plan on watching TV?” Note that when までも is paired up with a verb in て form‚ までも is split up:
.2 Particles
A special word involves this particle paired with -なく‚ the 連用形 for ない‚ forming the word なんとなく‚ meaning “for no reason”:
なぐ
A: どうして殴ったの。 B: いや、なんとなく。 A: “Why did (you) hit (him)?” B: “Eh‚ (I) just felt like it.208
Particles — § 4.

” meaning: “Having come this far‚ we can only press on.3 Translating prepositions
Japanese doesn’t really have prepositions like a lot of western languages do. These nouns will be treated in more detail and will‚ where needed‚ be accompanied by examples.”
ほか + Negative — Only option
Similar to しか‚ ほか indicates only one course of action or only one option:
すす
ここまできてて、進むほかしょうがない。 literally: “Having come this far‚ there is nothing to be done other than continue.
.Particles — § 4. The other category is those prepositions that have temporal or location nouns as their Japanese counterparts. There are two categories that preposition translations fall under.” For this role‚ ほか is often found in the pa ern ほかならない‚ meaning “nothing other than …”‚ used adjectivally (remember that the 連体形 is a ributive as well as sentence ending in modern Japanese):
かれ でき
ほかならない彼の出来ものだ。 “This is something only he can do. For this reason‚ this ﬁnal “particles” section will cover translating prepositions.” meaning: “No ma er where (you) look‚ it’s blue skies.3 Translating prepositions
み あおぞら
209
どこまで見ても、青空です。 literally: “Up till any point you can hypothetically look at‚ it’s blue sky.”
4. You’ve already seen that quite a few particles fulﬁl the role that prepositions play in other languages‚ but this still leaves the question of how to say something in Japanese that in western languages uses prepositions that are not covered just by particles. The ﬁrst is the list of prepositions that have particle or verb construction counterparts‚ though since you have already encountered these in the previous sections‚ these will not be treated in detail. I say conceptual because some concepts that are multiple words in western languages are the same conceptual temporal/location noun in Japanese.

each conceptual noun entry in the list below will show the pa ern(s) it can be used in. Typically‚ when [X] is a noun phrase‚ の is used‚ and when it is a verb phrase‚ の is omi ed‚ but there are exceptions to this. To illustrate this pa ern before we move on to the list itself‚ let us replace [X]
えき まえ みせ
with 駅‚ station‚ [Y] with 前‚ before‚ and [Z] with 店 がある‚ “there is a store”.3.210
Particles — § 4. Doing so‚ we get the following sentence:
. に or で‚ depending on whether it concerns location or instrumentalis のに 連用形 particles ながら or がてら for strict or loose simultaneous action‚ つつ for atemporal‚ or verb continuative (て form) しか‚ ほか or すら Either the indirect object に or the nominalising のために Either the indirect object に or から の A resultant state form of verbs that denote “to go oﬀ of” から‚ より で に as indirect object‚ に as destination‚ or へ as direction と This is done with either a verb in 未然形+ず‚ or using (未然形) なくて/ないで
4. The の in this pa ern is enclosed in parentheses‚ because it can be omi ed in some cases‚ but has to be used in others.3.3 Translating prepositions
4.1 Prepositions already covered
English preposition as at by despite during except/save for from of oﬀ since through to with without Translated into Japanese using… に in its role as indirect object に or で‚ depending on whether it concerns a thing or an event.2 Prepositions translating to conceptual temporal or location nouns
The conceptual nouns used to stand for what in western languages is done using prepositions‚ are all used in the following pa ern: [X](の)[Y]に/で[Z] where [X] can be any noun or verb clause‚ [Y] is a conceptual noun‚ and [Z] a verb activity or a state.

In the previous example a location was focused on‚
ともだち であ
but if we were to use the same sentence with [Z] being replaced with 友達と出会っ た‚ “(I) met (my) friend”‚ then we get a sentence that can focus on the event “meeting”‚ and this focus can be made explicit by using で instead of に: 駅の前で友達と出会った。 “(I) met (my) friend in front of the station. However‚ if we look at the following sentence‚ we see a diﬀerent context‚ and a diﬀerent meaning:
まど
テーブルの上に窓があります。 “There’s a window above the table. As a note‚ the choice of whether to use に or で is dependent on whether a location or an event is focused on.Particles — § 4.3.”
4. For instance:
うつく い ばな
テーブルの上に 美 しい生け花があります。 “There is a beautiful ﬂower arrangement on the table.3 Translating prepositions 駅の前に店がある。 “station” [genitive] “before” [location] “there is a store”
211
The natural translation‚ “There is a store in front of the station”‚ follows readily from this pa ern.
. It does not literally mean any of the words “above”‚ “on”‚ “up”‚ “over” or the likes‚ but simply implies them all‚ given a speciﬁc context.” Since ﬂower arrangements typically rest on a surface‚ 上 in this case means “on”.” Since windows don’t typically rest on surfaces but are part of walls‚ 上 can only be interpreted as meaning “above” in this context.3 The conceptual nouns list
うえ
上 — Above‚ up‚ upon‚ on
The kanji for this word already hints at the fact that this noun signiﬁes a conceptual location ‘above’ something.

”
ひだり
左 — Left
And then‚ of course‚ left:
ゆうびんきょく えき
郵便局 は駅の左にあります。 “The post oﬃce is to the left of the station. This can be used for both time and space:
.” In the ﬁrst sentence‚ 下 refers to well under the table‚ on the ﬂoor‚ while in the second sentence 下 means on the underside of the table itself. First up‚ right:
ゆうびんきょく えき
郵便局 は駅の右にあります。 “The post oﬃce is to the right of the station. Again‚ context dictates what preposition is best used in the translation:
ねこ
テーブルの下に猫がいます。 “There’s a cat underneath the table.”
まえ
前 — Before‚ in front of‚ prior
When referring to something before‚ or preceding‚ something else‚ the conceptual noun 前 is used.212
した
Particles — § 4.”
ひ だ
テーブルの下に引き出しがあります。 “There are drawers under the table.3 Translating prepositions
下 — Below‚ beneath‚ under‚ underneath
In the same way that 上 means the conceptual location above something‚ 下 means a conceptual location below something.
みぎ
右 — Right
Having covered above and below‚ the two orientation directions left and right.

3 Translating prepositions
えき ま
213
駅の前で待ってました。 “(I) waited in front of the station.” Clearly a delivery takes time to perform‚ and the 中 indicates that something is the case‚ or takes place‚ during this time.” In this sentence‚ the event “going out [on errands]”‚ 出かける‚ indicates a particular time‚ even if it’s not sharply deﬁned like clock times. When used directly after nouns that denote some activity‚ it is pronounced ちゅう‚ and is used to indicate that the verb action or verb state that follows it applies during the period that the activity noun describes.
ちゅう
中 — During
The conceptual noun 中 means several diﬀerent things depending on its use‚ and has diﬀerent pronunciations for each diﬀerent use.
おもて
表 — Front‚ facing
There’s one more “front” that has a special word for it in Japanese: the facing side of something. For instance‚ the title side of a book’s cover is the 表‚ the ‘store front’ side of a store is the 表‚ and the front side of a T-shirt is the 表.
じゅう
中 — Cross-…‚ throughout
When used with location nouns‚ the meaning for 中 changes to “cross-…” such as “cross-country” or “nation-wide”‚ and the reading changes to じゅう‚ such as in for
. This may sound a bit abstract‚ so an example:
はいたつちゅう
配達中 です。 “(I) am in the middle of a delivery. If instead we want to indicate something as happening or being the case before some verb activity‚ then 前 follows the 連体形:
で そうじ
出かける前に掃除をした。 “(I) cleaned up before going out (on errands).” This example‚ similar to the one given in this section’s pa ern explanation‚ states something being in front of some location.Particles — § 4.

To indicate the concept of “after”‚ a diﬀerent noun (後) is used‚ which can be pronounced in three diﬀerent ways‚ meaning three slightly diﬀerent things.” Here 中 refers to something being located inside a category.something that quite obviously requires being able to indicate something as existing within a greater (abstract) collection. However‚ when there is no abstract location but a real location‚ like the hollow of a tree‚ or the inside of a box‚ に is used:
はこ うでどけい
箱の中に腕時計があった。 literally: “There was a watch in the box” meaning: “The box contained a watch. Be careful though: unlike 前‚ which corresponded to “before” both in the location and time sense‚ 後ろ only means “behind”‚ and stands for a location. Since this is an abstract location‚ the particle で is used.214 instance:
せかいじゅう ひと う し
Particles — § 4.”
なか
中 — Amid‚ among‚ amongst‚ in‚ inside‚ within
And ﬁnally‚ when used in the pa ern that does not have の omi ed‚ 中 is pronounced なか‚ and can mean a wide variety of things that are associated with being located inside something. When focusing on locations‚ に is used as the follow up particle‚ but when 中 refers to abstract concepts such as “amidst [a collection]” or “among [things]”‚ it is followed by で instead‚ such as in for instance:
た もの わしょく いちばん す
食べ物の中で、和食が一番好きです。 “From (amongst) food‚ (I) like Japanese food best. it cannot be used to mean “after” in the context of time. An example of the use of 後ろ would be:
.
うし
後ろ — Behind
The noun 後ろ is used to indicate that something is located behind something else.” The pa ern [X]の中で[Y] will be explained further in the constructions section‚ when dealing with open choices .3 Translating prepositions
世界中で人が生まれて死ぬ。 “The world over‚ people are born and people die.

3 Translating prepositions
れいぞう かく
215
ねずみが冷蔵の後ろに隠れてしまった。 “The mice hid behind the refrigerator.”
うら
裏 — Back‚ opposite side
Much like how 表 is a special kind of 前‚ 裏 is a special kind of 後ろ‚ meaning “the non-facing side” of something. There is a third reading for 後‚ being のち‚ but this is a literary reading used as a replacement for あと‚ with as extra feature that it can be used to stand for “the afterlife”. the ultimate concept of “afterwards”.” Because the reading for the noun 後 is ご in this sentence‚ it clearly states that this person won’t be free for just a while after 8 o’ clock‚ but will be free from 8 o’ clock onwards until some indeterminate time (being probably when they go to bed). On the other hand‚ when indicating that something will stay in eﬀect after some speciﬁc time or event‚ the reading for this kanji is ご:
しごと じ お ご ひま
仕事は8時に終わりその後は暇だ。 “(My) job ends at 8‚ after that (I)’ll be available.
あと ご のち
後‚ 後‚ 後 — After
When indicating something happens after a certain time or event‚ 後 is used. However‚ depending on whether this “after” refers to “occurring at some time after”‚ or “occurring from then on” a diﬀerent pronunciation is used. when one only wishes to indicate something will happen after some speciﬁc time or event‚ the reading for this noun is あと:
しゅくだい あと
宿題 は後でします。 “(I)’ll do (my) homework afterwards.Particles — § 4. However‚ this reading is also used in the common formal time indicator のちほど (後程) meaning “later”‚ “at some later time”‚ “afterwards” or even “eventually”.” literally: “…‚ after that is leisure.
. For instance‚ the side of a book’s cover that doesn’t carry the title is the 裏‚ the back of a store is the 裏‚ and the back side of a T-shirt is the 裏.” In this sentence the act of “doing homework” will be done at some point after some contextually implied event‚ typically whatever the speaker is doing at the moment of saying a sentence like this.

For time‚ on the other hand‚ the [X]から[X]まで pa ern is used‚ because this lets us specify an interval with an explicit beginning and end:
はんにん にじ さんじ に
犯人は二時から三時までの間に逃げられた。 “The culprit (managed to) escape between the hours of 2 and 3.” literally: “… outside the house.” literally: “… in the interval (bank .”
あいだ
間 — Between
Literally‚ this noun stands for the concept of “in an interval”‚ where this interval can be either temporal or spatial:
ぎんこう ゆうびんきょく こうしゅうでんわ
銀行と 郵便局 の間に公衆電話があります。 “There are public phones located between the bank and the post oﬃce.”
ちか
近く — Near
ちか
This is actually the noun form of the verbal adjective 近い‚ ‘near’‚ and is used for locations only.”
.” As can be seen from the example‚ the list of locations between which some verb action occurs‚ or some verb state is the case‚ is created using the standard inclusive noun listing particle と.216
そと
Particles — § 4.3 Translating prepositions
外 — Out‚ outside
The opposite of 中‚ 外 stands for the broad and undeﬁned location that is the world outside:
ねこ いえ あそ
うちの猫が家の外に遊んでる。 “Our cat’s playing outside. This noun is (fairly intuitively) used to indicate something is close to some location or object:
えいがかん
映画館の近くにあります。 “It’s close to the cinema.post oﬃce).

” This is perfectly valid use of 隣 (not to mention valid use of の for back referral‚ immediately followed by の[location noun])‚ as the two objects in question are clearly of the same category.”
へん
辺 — Nearby‚ around
The noun 辺 literally means “vicinity”‚ and when used as a conceptual location noun‚ means “near”‚ “close to”‚ and the like:
さかなや さいふ な
お魚屋の辺に財布を無くしてしまった。 “(I) lost (my) wallet somewhere near the ﬁsh shop.3 Translating prepositions
む
217
向こう — Facing‚ across‚ opposite‚ beyond
In Japanese the idea of “across”‚ “opposite from” and “beyond” are all variations on the same theme of something facing something else: something opposite to us clearly faces us‚ something that is for instance across the street faces us from across the street and something that lies beyond the darkest night is something that faces us from this theoretical location:
みち ともだち ま
道の向こうに友達が待ってるはずです。 literally: “I expect my friends to be waiting …” “(My) friends should be waiting for [me] across the street.
.”
よこ
となり
横 and 隣 — Besides‚ next to
While in most western languages when two objects are placed side by side‚ they are said to be “beside” or “next to” each other‚ Japanese requires you to pick the right word for this spatial relation depending on whether or not these two objects are of a similar category.Particles — § 4.”
うみ べつ せかい き
海の向こうに別の世界があると聞いた。 “(I) heard that across the ocean lies a diﬀerent world. For instance‚ placing two apples or two bikes next to each other
となり
means you can use the noun 隣 to indicate that one is next to the other:
おれ じてんしゃ おとうと た
俺の自転車は 弟 のの隣に立っておきました。 “I left my bike standing next to my (younger) brother’s.

direction East South West North noun
ひがし
東
みなみ
南
にし
西
きた
北
And of course their permutations:
ほくとう
北東
ほくせい
NE NW SE SW
北西
なんとう
南東
なんせい
南西
がわ
∼側 — …side
This is not so much a conceptual noun as a suﬃx for several of the nouns listed so far.
Compass directions
In addition to the obvious locations‚ there are four more that are usually overlooked: the compass directions. Suﬃxed to various of these words‚ 側 signiﬁes “side”‚ so that 上 means “above”‚ but 上側 means “the top side” (although it is then pronounced うわがわ).218
Particles — § 4.3 Translating prepositions
よこ
However‚ for the following example we need to use 横 instead of 隣:
いけ あそ
みんなが池の横に遊んだりした。 “Everyone was playing games and stuﬀ next to the pond. 右 means
. In eﬀect‚ 隣 can be thought of as not just meaning “next to” but having the added meaning “next to the other [object category]”‚ while 横 only means “beside” or “next to”.” (note that using に stresses the location rather than the act in this sentence) Here‚ since みんな are of a category “people”‚ and 池 is of category “pond”‚ there is no way 隣 can be used‚ since these two things aren’t even remotely alike.

This chapter covered quite a number of particles‚ some of which are essential‚ some of which good to know‚ and some of which are downright rare‚ as well as showing you which constructions to use when particles aren’t used.4 In Summary
And so we’ve reached the end of the particles chapter.4 In Summary
219
“right”‚ but 右側 means “the right (hand) side”. In order to do any kind of counting in Japanese‚ a knowledge not just of numbers‚ but also of counter particles is essential‚ and we shall be looking at this in the next chapter. What does this leave? While we’ve certainly covered enough particles to last you quite a while in your study of Japanese‚ there’s one particular kind of particle that wasn’t covered in this chapter‚ the counter particle. This isn’t really just one particle‚ but a category of particles‚ with a basic set that is large enough to warrant an entire chapter being dedicated to them.Particles — § 4. The list of nouns modiﬁed in this way is:
noun
うえ
side
うわがわ
meaning the top the underside the front‚ the facing side the reverse‚ the other side the interior the exterior the left side the right side
がわ
上
した
上側
したがわ
下
おもて
下側
おもてがわ
表
うら
表側
うらがわ
裏
うち
裏側
うちがわ
内
そと
内側
そとがわ
外
ひだり
外側
ひだりがわ
左
みぎ
左側
みぎがわ
右
む
右側
む
向こう
きた
向こう側
きたがわ
the other side‚ the opposing side the northern side the southern side the eastern side the western side
北
みなみ
北側
みなみがわ
南
ひがし
南側
ひがしがわ
東
みし
東側
にしがわ
西
西側
4.
.

4 In Summary
.220
Particles — § 4.

Chapter 5
Counters and counting
Counting in Japanese is everything but apparent or easy if you’re used to western counting. To count in Japanese‚ two things are required: a number‚ and a categorical marker that indicates what is actually being counted. In the outline on Japanese‚ I mentioned three diﬀerent ways to count from one to ten‚ and this 221
. which numbers exist and how to construct numbers yourself‚ 2. Instead‚ the following list will only contain those counters that are considered reasonably essential to know in order to do basic counting (and that’s already quite a few).
5. This makes counting in Japanese not just a ma er of knowing which words stand for which numbers‚ but also which counters stand for which countable categories. However‚ clock hours are counted using the speciﬁc counter for hours‚ and the number of times something happens is counted using the speciﬁc counter for occurrences. which to use when you don’t actually know which you should use. Just like for regular particles‚ there exist dictionaries that contain lists and lists of which word can be used as a counter for which category of items‚ and if you wish to become a counting machine‚ it is recommended that you buy one and go over the lists in it as you will not ﬁnd a truly exhaustive list here. For instance‚ bo les‚ pencils and legs are all counted using the categorical counter for “long round object”‚ and birds are counted using the categorical counter for “things with wings”. The categorical marker for items is usually not the item noun itself‚ but a diﬀerent word acting as categorical counter particle instead. The challenge is then to learn three things in order to successfully count in Japanese: 1. which speciﬁc and categorical counters exist‚ and 3.1 Counting
Before we look at the counter particles‚ let’s brieﬂy look at counting itself.

There are similar counterparts for 4 through 9‚ but these are rarely used: 肆‚ 伍‚ 陸‚ 漆‚ 捌 and 玖 respectively.
ご し
五
ろく
六
しち
七 — More commonly pronounced なな‚ also a native Japanese reading. However‚ unlike this pre-China native Japanese counting system‚ the Chinese derived series for one through ten is reasonably simple:
number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
wri en and pronounced
一‚ 壱 in formal writing.222
Counters and counting — § 5.
さん に
いち
三‚ 参 in formal writing.
The reason why 1‚ 2‚ 3 and 10 have special formal kanji stems from the use in legal documents‚ where changing an 一 into a 十 or 二 into 三 was rather easy‚ while turning an 壱 into a 拾 or a 弐 into a 参 was a lot harder.1 Counting
comes from the fact that Japan‚ while it borrowed the Chinese kanji and readings‚ also had its own language prior to knowing anything about China. Not surprisingly then‚ counting was done with completely diﬀerent words in pre-China Japan. Using kanji forms to create large numbers relies on a fairly simple rule of composition‚ as you should be able to tell from the following examples: 20 = 2 × 10 = 二十 90 = 9 × 10 = 九十
ひゃく
100 = 百 ‚ formally wri en as 佰 120 = 100 + 2 × 10 = 百二十 780 = 7 × 100 + 8 × 10 = 七百八十
. Larger numbers in the Chinese system are wri en either using Arabic numerals (like 1‚890‚298‚345)‚ or — when they’re decently clean or small enough to write out in full — wri en in kanji. 二‚ 弐 in formal writing. 四 — More commonly pronounced よん‚ a native Japanese reading.
はち
八
きゅう
九
じゅう
十 ‚ 拾 in formal writing.

The
けい
next order number is 万 × 兆‚ which is 京.e. The biggest number that still uses 万 as highest order is 99‚999‚999: 九千九百九十九万九千九百九十九. There are in fact quite a few of these higher order counters‚ although of course the higher you go‚ the less likely people are to know the counter used‚ and the less meaningful the number becomes (because we cannot visualise such large numbers). An example of using 零 is in things such
れいてん れいれいれいいち
as “0.0001”‚ which can also be wri en as 零点零零零一‚ with 点 meaning “dot”.)‚ but in the Chinese counting system large numbers are powers of 万‚ 10‚000: 9‚999 is 九千九百九十九‚ 10‚000 is 万. The next order number is 万 × 億‚ which is 兆 .Counters and counting — § 5.)‚ the factor is simply added in front of the order‚ eﬀectively indicating a multiplier.) with the factor (“2” in 20‚ “8” in 800‚ etc. The
おく
number that follows this is a number equal to 万 × 万‚ called 億‚ with a
ちょう
value of 100‚000‚000. a million is 1000 × 1000‚ a billion is 1000 × 1000 × 1000‚ etc. Aside from the numbers one through ten‚ there is also the ‘number’ zero‚ which is typically wri en in katakana as ゼロ when used on its own‚ or using the
れい
noun 零 when meaning “nought” or “null”.1 Counting
せん
223
1000 = 千‚ formally wri en as 阡 1300 = 1000 + 3 × 100 = 千三百 4826 = 4 × 1000 + 8 × 100 + 2 × 10 + 6 = 四千八百二十六
まん
10000 = 万‚ formally wri en as 萬. However‚ one signiﬁcant diﬀerence is found in orders of magnitude: in western systems we raise by a power of 1000 for large numbers (i. The rules for composition are actually reasonably close to the western system of writing large numbers‚ except that instead of replacing the order (the “1” in 1‚ 10‚ 100‚ 1000‚ etc. The native Japanese way of counting is a bit more complex:
number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
pronunciation ひ ふ み よ い (いっ) む な
.

The readings that you see for the counter つ can be considered the ‘dominant’ readings‚ used with a few other native
くんよ
Japanese (訓読み) counters‚ with the readings for 日 being fairly unique and not used by other counters.1 Counting
While this doesn’t look very complex‚ this series is also one you will likely never use as they aren’t used for actual counting.
number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
counting things: つ
counting days: 日 (pronounced か) 一日 — special readings: ついたち and いちにち
ふつか
一つ 二つ
みっ ふた
ひと
二日
みっか
三つ
よっ
三日
よっか
四つ
いつ
四日
いつか
五つ
むっ
五日
むいか
六つ
なな
六日
なのか
七つ
やっ
七日
ようか
八つ
ここの
八日
ここのか
九つ
とお
九日
とおか
十
十日
If we ignore the reading for 一日 (for which ついたち means “the ﬁrst day of the month” and いちにち means “one day (in duration/length)”) we see that these two series don’t use the same readings for the numbers‚ and that neither are quite the same as the previous table for native readings.224
number 8 9 10 pronunciation や こ と
Counters and counting — § 5. It may be used when someone’s trying to enumerate something from memory using their ﬁngers‚ mu ering “ひ‚ ふ‚ み‚ よ‚ い…” while touching ﬁngers in succession‚ but that’s about it. The native Japanese readings are used with only a handful of counters‚ but these are quite important counters: those used for general counting of items‚ and for counting days. Instead‚ slightly different pronunciations are used when paired with counters for actual counting statements. Before we move on to the counters list‚ we need to ﬁnish looking at what numbers do when paired with counters‚ and this involves looking at how their read-
.

1. There are a few general rules that apply‚ although of course — as always — there are a few exceptions to these general rules (when a counter has such an exception‚ this will be highlighted in its section).1 Rules for 一
When followed by a counter starting with a syllable from the か—‚ さ— or た—column‚ いち becomes いっ: いち + こ becomes いっこ いち + さい becomes いっさい いち + とう becomes いっとう When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ いち becomes いっ and the counter voices to a ‘p’ sound: いち + はい becomes いっぱい
いち
さん
5.
5.1.1 Counting
225
ings may change when they are paired with certain counters: they may contract‚ and the counter may become voiced.2 Rules for 三
When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ that syllable voices to a ‘b’ sound: さん + ほん becomes さんぼん
ろく
5.Counters and counting — § 5.3 Rules for 六
When followed by a counter starting with a か—column syllable‚ ろく becomes ろっ: ろく + かい becomes ろっかい When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ ろく becomes ろっ and the counter voices to a ‘p’ sound: ろく + ひゃく becomes ろっぴゃく
.1.

6 How many?
In addition to counting statements such as “three oranges” or “seven samurai”‚ it also helps if we know how to ask “how many oranges?” or “how many samurai?”.1. The “proper” pronunciation is じっ[…]‚ but is also becoming more and more dated Japanese‚ with many people using the pronunciation じゅっ these days.226
はち
Counters and counting — § 5. This is done using two question words: 何—‚ pronounced なん—‚ and 幾—‚ pronounced
.
5.5 Rules for 十
When followed by a counter starting with a か—‚ さ— or た—column syllable‚ じゅ う may become じっ or じゅっ: じゅう + こ can become either じっこ or じゅっこ じゅう + さい can become either じっさい or じゅっさい じゅう + たい can become either じったい or じゅったい When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ じゅう can become either じっ or じゅっ and the counter voices to a ‘p’ sound: じゅう + ほん can become either じっぽん or じゅっぽん The choice between which of the two possible pronunciations to use is mostly one of style. Depending on whose company you are in‚ you’ll have to pick the pronunciation that will raise fewest eyebrows.1.1 Counting
5.4 Rules for 八
When followed by a counter starting with a か—‚ さ— or た—column syllable‚ はち becomes はっ: はち + こう becomes はっこう はち + せん becomes はっせん はち + たい becomes はったい When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ はち becomes はっ and the counter voices to a ‘p’ sound: はち + ひき becomes はっぴき
じゅう
5.1.

These are used in the same way that numerals are used‚ being paired with a counter to turn it into a questioning statement.Counters and counting — § 5. ある for oranges‚ いる for samurai)
なん
Rules for 何
When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable‚ the counter voices to a ‘b’ sound: なん + はい becomes なんばい
5. Thus‚ we can ask for “how many oranges?” by using 幾つ: オレンジは幾つありますか。 “How many oranges are (there)?” And we can ask how many samurai there are by using:
さむらい なんにん
侍 は何人いますか。 “How many samurai are (there)?” (note the diﬀerence in verb.1 Counting
227
いく—. Diﬀerent counters use diﬀerent question words‚ with the rule generally being that if native Japanese readings are used with the counter‚ the question word will be 幾—‚ whereas if Chinese readings are used with the counter‚ the question word will be 何.1.7 The rules in summary
In summary‚ there are four diﬀerent numeral readings:
numeral 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
General reading いち に さん し or よん ご ろく しち or なな はち きゅう じゅう
native reading ひ ふ み よ い(っ) む な や こ と
with つ ひとつ ふたつ みっつ よっつ いつつ むっつ ななつ やっつ ここのつ とお
with か × ふつか みっか よっか いつか むいか なのか ようか ここのか とおか
.

228
Counters and counting — § 5. While ranges in English have their own pronunciation (“X through Y” or “X to Y”)‚ in Japanese there is no special word between the start and the end of a range:
こんど じゅぎょう だいじゅういち じゅうに か よ
今度の 授業 に第 十一 ∼二十課を読んでください。 Please read chapters 11 through 20 for next class. Typically ranges like these will use actual numbers‚ rather than kanji forms‚ purely for aesthetics.2 Ranges and estimations And the table of pronunciation changes when numerals are paired with coun-
ters:
numeral 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 何 幾 reading いち に さん し‚ よん ご ろく しち‚ なな はち きゅう じゅう なん いく +は いっぱ さんば +た いった +さ いっさ +か いっか
ろっぱ はっぱ じっぱ じゅっぱ なんば はった じった じゅった はっさ じっさ じゅっさ
ろっか はっか じっか じゅっさ
5. The construction 第十一∼二十課 is simply pronounced だいじゅういちに じゅうか‚ and when the resulting wri en form is unambiguous‚ the ∼ symbol may even be left oﬀ‚ in this case forming 第十一二十課 (of course‚ still pronounced だい じゅういちにじゅうか).
.2 Ranges and estimations
Number ranges are really easy in Japanese‚ involving nothing more than using ∼ between two numbers‚ so that １∼７ indicates the range 1 through 7. The start and end of ranges can‚ if needed‚ be explicitly marked as such by using から and まで‚ but doing so carries the same diﬀerence in nuance as explicitly marking a start and end in English carries: 第十一課から第二十課まで読んでください。 Please read from chapter 11 up to chapter 20.

” This can be a bit confusing when someone says something like 十一二分歩い た‚ which could either mean “I walked 11 (or) 2 minutes” or “I walked 11 (or) 12 minutes”.3 Counters
229
Rough ranges‚ or estimations‚ are even easier. Disambiguation is typically left to context‚ so that in this case it would be odd that someone walked either 11 or 2 minutes‚ when the alternative is 11 or 12. This list is followed by the other counters‚ split up into four categories: general article counters‚ counters for living things‚ counters for occurrences‚ and time related unit counters. Rather than just using these two categories‚ a list of common numerical orders‚ which act as counters too‚ is presented ﬁrst.3 Counters
When actually counting‚ or just enumerating things‚ we need to combine numbers with counters.
5. However‚ there may be instances where more than one interpretation seems reasonable‚ and you’ll have to apply some analytical thinking to determine which is the correct interpretation. As mentioned‚ counters can be split into speciﬁc and general counter categories. This can be done in two diﬀerent ways‚ depending on whether the focus is on the thing that’s being counted‚ or on the count itself: Focus on item: [X] の [Y] を/が + verb Focus on count: [Y] を/が [X] + verb For instance‚ in the statement ふたつのオレンジをください‚ translating to “please give me two oranges”‚ the focus is on oranges (because it comes later in the sentence). While strictly speaking these are not counters‚ they are used when you need to quantify actions without being able to rely on a counter‚ such as when you “read books often”. If we rearrange this to form the sentence オレンジをふたつください the focus is on the count: “oranges‚ give me two‚ please”. In addition to counters‚ a list of adverbs used for quantiﬁcation is included in this chapter. Speciﬁc counters cover things like units of time or distance‚ and general counters cover categories like ‘bound objects’ or ‘pieces of [something]’. These simply consist of all the numbers in the estimation‚ in succession (similar to rough ranges in English):
いちにふん ある
一二分歩いた。 “I walked 1 (or) 2 minutes.Counters and counting — § 5.
.

Because it is the highest “low order” order counter‚ it is used in combination with 10‚ 100 and 1000 to indicate a hundred thousand‚ a million and ten million respectively. Instead this is 千‚ 1000.
万 まん (一万) (いちまん) 二万 にまん 三万 さんまん 四万 よんまん 五万 ごまん 六万 ろくまん 七万 ななまん
.
まん
万 — 10000 (Ten thousand)
The highest “low order” order counter‚ 万 stands for ten thousand.3.
せん
千 — 1000 (A thousand)
The counter for a thousand has an irregular pronunciation for 3‚ and the question counter:
千 せん 六千 ろくせん (一千) (いっせん) 七千 ななせん 二千 にせん 八千 はっせん 三千 さんぜん 九千 きゅうせん 四千 よんせん 万 まん 五千 ごせん 何千 なんぜん
Again‚ unless the factor 1 needs to be stressed‚ 千 rather than 一千 is used. 100 million is a
おく
new counter‚ 億. Also note that quite obviously “ten hundred” doesn’t exist. And again‚ there is no “ten thousand”‚ there is the counter 万 instead.3 Counters
5.230
Counters and counting — § 5.1 Numerical counters
ひゃく
百 — 100 (A hundred)
As mentioned in the section on counting‚ the numerical orders in Japanese are technically counters too‚ with their own set of pronunciations:
百 ひゃく 六百 ろっぴゃく (一百) (いっぴゃく) 七百 ななひゃく 二百 にひゃく 八百 はっぴゃく 三百 さんびゃく 九百 きゅうひゃく 四百 よんひゃく 千 せん 五百 ごひゃく 何百 なんびゃく
Note that 一百 isn’t used unless it needs to be stressed that it’s one hundred‚ rather than some other factor of a hundred.

3 Counters
八万 はちまん
おく
231
千万 せんまん 何万 なんまん
九万 きゅうまん
十万 じゅうまん
百万 ひゃくまん
億 — 100000000 (A hundred million)
The biggest “useful” number‚ 億 is still a realistically large number in‚ for instance‚ prices for houses‚ luxury yachts or fancy sports cars. The pronunciation is wholly unremarkable:
億 おく (一億) (いちおく) 二億 におく 三億 さんおく 四億 よんおく 五億 ごおく 六億 ろくおく 七億 ななおく
八億 はちおく
九億 きゅうおく
十億 じゅうおく
百億 ひゃくおき
千億 せんおく
兆 ちょう
何億 なんおく
Other order counters
While slightly ridiculous‚ there are counters for 10 to the power minus 21‚ which is the truly insigniﬁcant number 0. The list of all available counters‚ plus their western abbreviated counterparts‚ is as follows:
counter
せいじょう
value 10 to the power -21 10 to the power -20 10 to the power -19 10 to the power -18 10 to the power -17 10 to the power -16 10 to the power -15 10 to the power -14 10 to the power -13 10 to the power -12
equivalent term zepto‚ z
清浄
こくう
虚空
りっとく
六徳
せつな
刹那
だんし
ato‚ a
弾指
しゅんそく
瞬息
しゅゆ
須臾
しゅんじゅん
femto‚ f
逡巡
もこ
糢糊
ばく
漠
pico‚ p
.Counters and counting — § 5.0000000000000000000001‚ up to the incredibly huge number 10 to the power 68‚ or 100‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚ 000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000. Now‚ while for normal purposes these are of course ridiculous numbers‚ they’re quite useful for science.

001 centi‚ c‚ 1/100‚ 0.01 deci‚ d‚ 1/10‚ 0.3 Counters
value 10 to the power -11 10 to the power -10 10 to the power -9 10 to the power -8 10 to the power -7 10 to the power -6 10 to the power -5 10 to the power -4 10 to the power -3 10 to the power -2 10 to the power -1 milli‚ m‚ 1/1‚000‚ 0.1 micro‚ µ‚ 1/1‚000‚000 nano‚ n‚ 1/1‚000‚000‚000 equivalent term
渺
あい
埃
じん
塵
しゃ
沙
せん
繊
び
微
こつ
忽
し
糸
もう
毛
りん
厘
ぶ
分
counter
じゅう
value 10 to the power 1 10 to the power 2 10 to the power 3 10 to the power 4 10 to the power 8 10 to the power 12 10 to the power 16 10 to the power 20 10 to the power 24 10 to the power 28 10 to the power 32 10 to the power 36 10 to the power 40 10 to the power 44 10 to the power 48
equivalent term deca‚ da‚ 10 hecto‚ h‚ 100 kilo‚ k‚ 1000
十
ひゃく
百
せん
千
まん
万
おく
億
ちょう
兆
けい
tera‚ T
京
がい
垓
じょ ・し
抒
じょう
yo a‚ Y
穣
こう
溝
かん
澗
せい
正
さい
載
ごく
極
.232
counter
びょう
Counters and counting — § 5.

”
ほん
本 — Long cylindrical items
When you want to count cylindrical objects like pencils‚ bo les‚ or arms‚ 本 is used. While it is unlikely you will ever hear about these numbers ever again‚ these numbers have a very high trivia factor:
counter
ごうがしゃ
value 10 to the power 52‚ as well as 56 10 to the power 56‚ as well as 64 10 to the power 60‚ as well as 72 10 to the power 64‚ as well as 80 10 to the power 68‚ as well as 88
恒河沙
あそうぎ
阿僧祇
なゆた
那由他
ふかしぎ
不可思議
むりょうだいすう
無量大数
5.Counters and counting — § 5.3 Counters
233
The measures for mega (M)‚ giga (G)‚ peta (P) and exa (E) are missing from this set because these correspond to 10 to the powers 6‚ 9‚ 15 and 18 respectively‚ none of which are divisible by 4. For orders higher than 48‚ there is a curious problem where in the rigid counting system the order keeps going up by 4‚ so that the ﬁve terms refer to 10 to the power 52‚ 56‚ 60‚ 64 and 68 respectively‚ but can also stand for older Japanese numbers‚ in which case they refer to 10 to the power 56‚ 64‚ 72‚ 80 and 88 respectively. The pronunciations for this counter are:
.2 General counters for articles
だい
第 — Ordinal preﬁx
The ﬁrst counter in this list isn’t actually a counter‚ but an ordinal preﬁx.”
やす むず
第１∼１０課は易くて‚ 第１１∼１７課は難しいです。 “Chapters 1 through 10 are easy‚ chapters 11 through 17 are hard. It’s quite frequently used‚ so it’s important you’ve learned it‚ and it’s relatively easy to wrap your head around: if some counter statement says “… somethings”‚ then preﬁxing 第 to it will create the statement “the …th something” or “something (number) …”:
ほん か
この本が１７課があります。 “This book has 17 chapters.3. As a noun this word means “book” or “origin”‚ but as a counter it obviously means something completely diﬀerent.

” Interestingly‚ phone calls can also be counted using this counter‚ the “logic” behind this being that telephone horns used to also be cylindrical (think of the classical phone with a rotary number dial). The pronunciations are:
一冊 いっさつ 二冊 にさつ 三冊 さんさつ 四冊 よんさつ 五冊 ごさつ 六冊 ろくさつ
七冊 ななさつ
八冊 はっさつ
九冊 きゅうさつ
十冊 じっさつ じゅっさつ
何冊 なんさつ
And an example of use would be:
ほんだな ほん
本棚に五冊の本があります。 “There are 5 books on the bookshelf.
さつ
冊 — Bound volumes
This counter is used for counting bound objects like books‚ magazines‚ notebooks and the like.3 Counters
五本 ごほん 六本 ろっぽん
七本 ななほん
八本 はっぽん
九本 きゅうほん
十本 じっぽん じゅっぽん
何本 なんぼん
An example of its use is counting bo les of cola on the table: 何本ありますか。 “How many bo les are there?”
うえ
テーブルの上にコーラが三本あります。 “There are 3 bo les of cola on the table.” (In this sentence‚ 本 is used as a normal noun‚ not a counter.234
一本 いっぽん 二本 にほん 三本 さんぼん 四本 よんほん
Counters and counting — § 5.)
.

A stack of reading material consisting of a magazine‚ a newspaper‚ a novel and a text book on Japanese consists of 四冊‚ but since these are each completely diﬀerent works‚ the stack does not consist of 四巻. On its own‚ 課 technically means “division”‚ but is understood within the context of something educational‚ so mostly translates to chapter‚ lesson‚ section‚ or even (educational) department.3 Counters
かん
235
巻 — Volumes
This counter is used to count volumes in a series of bound volumes.Counters and counting — § 5.
か
課 — Sections
This counter is used to count sections in a (text) book‚ or lessons in a lesson programme. The pronunciations are:
一枚 いちまい 七枚 しちまい (ななまい) 二枚 にまい 八枚 はちまい 三枚 さんまい 九枚 きゅうまい 四枚 よんまい 十枚 じゅうまい 五枚 ごまい 六枚 ろくまい 何枚 なんまい
And an example of use would be:
おお ほん
この大きな本は何枚ですか。 “How many pages (literally: sheets) is this big book?”
はい
杯 — Cups
This counter is used to count cups of drink‚ such as glasses of wine‚ cups of tea‚ glasses of beer and the like.
まい
枚 — Sheets
This counter is used to count sheet-like things‚ such as sheets of paper‚ plates‚ planks‚ or even things like folded up T-shirts. The diﬀerence between 巻 and 冊 is that 冊 only means bound volume. For instance‚ a twenty volume encyclopedia comprises ２０巻 worth of books. The pronunciations are:
.

However‚ it can also be used as a quantiﬁer‚ in which case it means “plenty” or “full”‚ depending on the context. This would include things like cars‚ televisions‚ pianos‚ cameras‚ sewing machines‚ and the like.” Note that 一杯 can mean two things: as a counter statement it means “one cup [of something]”. When used to mean “one cup”‚ the pronunciation drops in pitch on “っぱい”‚ whereas when it is used to mean “full”‚ the pronunciation has a rising pitch on “っぱい”.236
一杯 いっぱい 二杯 にはい 三杯 さんばい 四杯 よんはい
Counters and counting — § 5.3 Counters
五杯 ごはい 六杯 ろっぱい
七杯 ななはい (しちはい)
八杯 はっぱい
九杯 きゅうはい
十杯 じっぱい じゅっぱい
何杯 なんばい
An example of use would be:
あか くだ
赤ワインを二杯とビールを一杯下さい。 “2 glasses of red wine and 1 glass of beer please.”
.
だい
台 — Machinery
This counter is used to count mechanical or electrical machinery of all sizes.
一台 いちだい 二台 にだい 三台 さんだい 四台 よんだい 五台 ごだい 六台 ろくだい
七台 ななだい (しちだい)
八台 はちだい
九台 きゅうだい
十台 じゅうだい
何台 なんだい
An example of use would be:
ともだち
友達のヒロシは三台のコンピューターがあるんだって。 “(My) friend Hiroshi said he had three computers.

The pronunciations are:
一個 いっこ 七個 ななこ 二個 にこ 八個 はっこ 三個 さんこ 九個 きゅうこ 四個 よんこ 十個 じっこ じゅっこ 五個 ごこ 六個 ろっこ 何個 なんこ
.”
ちか
For ﬂoors underground‚ the preﬁx 地下 (literally meaning “underground”) is added to this counter:
地下一階 ちかいっかい 地下二階 ちかにかい 地下三階 ちかさんがい … …
さいじょうかい
In addition‚ there are also two useful words to know when it comes to ﬂoors‚
ちゅうにかい
being 最上階 ‚ meaning “top ﬂoor” and 中二階 meaning “mezzanine” (a ‘ﬂoor’ between ﬁrst and second ﬂoor).
こ
個 — Instances‚ number of
This is a general purpose counter used to count “numbers of [something]”‚ such as the number of eggs needed for a speciﬁc recipe‚ or the number of bricks in a wall.Counters and counting — § 5.3 Counters
かい
237
階 — Floors in a building
This counter is used to count ﬂoors or levels of a building‚ and has a special pronunciation for 3:
一階 いっかい 二階 にかい 三階 さんかい さんがい 九階 きゅうかい 四階 よんかい 五階 ごかい 六階 ろっかい
七階 ななかい
八階 はっかい
十階 じっかい じゅっかい
何階 なんかい
An example of use would be:
しんしつ
寝室は二階にあります。 “The bedrooms are on the second ﬂoor.

Because this counter creates statements such as “I will have four [items]”‚ it’s typically omi ed in translation because it doesn’t indicate what kind of items are counted at all‚ merely that they are being counted. The pronunciations for this counter‚ as mentioned in the counting section‚ are what make this particle special‚ since it uses the native Japanese pronunciations for 1-9‚ and has a special question word:
一つ ひとつ 二つ ふたつ 三つ みっつ 四つ よっつ 五つ いつつ 六つ むっつ
七つ ななつ
八つ やっつ
九つ ここのつ
(十) (とお)
幾つ いくつ
Important to note is that 十 doesn’t actually have つ as counter at all. So eggs and bricks are ﬁne‚ people or thoughts are not. For children that are older‚ as well as adolescents and adults‚ the regular question word なんさい (何才 / 何歳)‚ which is the question word for the counter for years of age‚ is used instead.”
.238 And example of use would be:
たまご い
Counters and counting — § 5.
つ — Items
This is a special general counter for counting items. Also‚ the question word for this counter can be used not just to ask “how many items”‚ but also “how many years [of age]” someone is‚ although this only applies to the age of young children‚ as the counter only really goes up to 10. An example of use would be:
のこ
二つのオレンジが残りました。 “There were 2 oranges left.3 Counters
卵 を何個入れていいですか。 “How many eggs should (I) add?”
This counter is a typical fall-back counter when you do not know the proper counter for something‚ although with the note that it only makes sense for things that can be measured in units‚ or instances.

” Of course‚ in the context of currency いくら is always understood as meaning “how much (money)”. This counter has special pronunciations for 4 and 9‚ and also has a special question word:
一円 いちえん 二円 にえん 三円 さんえん 四円 よえん 五円 ごえん 六円 ろくえん
七円 しちえん (ななえん)
八円 はちえん
九円 くえん (きゅうえん)
十円 じゅうえん
幾ら いくら
An example sentence would be: このペンは五十円でした。 “This pen was 50 yen.Counters and counting — § 5.
.3 Counters
えん
239
円 — The Japanese currency
This counter is used for ¥‚ the Japanese currency. Thus‚ the question い
よ
くら読みますか‚ “how much do you read?”‚ can mean three diﬀerent things‚ reﬂected in the possible answers to it:
にしゅうかん いっさつ
二週間に一冊読みます。 “(I) read 1 book every 2 weeks.” あんまり読ませんよ。 “Oh‚ (I) don’t really read that much. Other major currency counters are ドル‚ the (US) dollar‚ ユーロ‚ the euro (€)‚ and ポンド‚ the (British) pound. Also note that the question word for “how many yen” is actually the question word meaning “how much”‚ and is remarkably similar to くらい in that it can be used to refer to either quantity‚ duration or frequency.” Note the diﬀerent readings よえん instead of “よんえん” and くえん instead of “きゅうえん”.”
いちにち にじかん
一日に二時間読みます。 “(I) read 2 hours a day.

When indicating actual counts of individual tatami mats‚ such as when purchasing replacement mats or for outﬁ ing several rooms‚ the counter 枚 is used instead. The size of tatami mats depends on the region‚ ranging from 0. Thus‚ a 六畳 room may be bigger or smaller‚ depending on where in Japan you ﬁnd it. The reason for this is that rather than indicating surface measure‚ you are now counting ﬂat‚ sheet-like objects‚ which must of course be counted using the counter for ﬂat‚ sheet-like objects.91 meter in the Kyoto area to only 0.240
じょう
Counters and counting — § 5.3. This unit of measure is one of the ‘common knowledge’ units of surface measure‚ so it’s generally a good idea to know it.
5. The pronunciations are:
一匹 いっぴき 二匹 にひき 三匹 さんびき 四匹 よんひき 五匹 ごひき 六匹 ろっぴき
.3 Counters
畳 — Floor surface
Traditional Japanese houses‚ or traditional rooms in apartment buildings or ﬂats in
わふうしつ
Japan (called 和風室‚ literally ‘Japanese style room’)‚ are never counted in terms of
たたみ
square feet or meters‚ but in terms of how many tatami mats‚ 畳 ‚ it will ﬁt. The counting table is fairly simple‚ with a diﬀerent reading for 9:
一畳 いちじょう 七畳 しちじょう (ななじょう) 二畳 にじょう 八畳 はちじょう 三畳 さんじょう 九畳 くじょう (きゅうじょう) 四畳 よんじょう 十畳 じゅうじょう 五畳 ごじょう 六畳 ろくじょう 何畳 なんじょう
Typically‚ however‚ there are only three counts for 畳‚ namely the common
はん
room dimensions for Japanese style rooms: 四畳半 (four and a half)‚ 六畳 and 八畳.76 meter in the Tokyo area.3 Counters for living things
ひき
匹 — Small animals and ﬁsh
This counter is used to count small animals.955 meter by 1. “Small” should not be taken too literally‚ as this counter applies to cats‚ squirrels‚ mice‚ or ﬁsh just as it does to great Danes (a particularly huge kind of dog) or even moderately sized alligators.88 meter by 1.

This practice lasted until 1872‚ when the Meiji restoration embraced a number of Western views and customs‚ and eating meat was allowed all year round again after a more than 1300 year period of decreed abstinence. Boars‚ for instance‚ became “land whales” (whales still being considered ﬁsh at the time‚ rather than the mammals we now know them to be)‚ and rabbits became “birds” on account of their ﬂoppy ears‚ so these animals were counted using the counters that applied to these animals instead. The pronunciations for this counter are wholly unremarkable:
一羽 いちわ 七羽 しちわ (ななわ) 二羽 にわ 八羽 はちわ 三羽 さんわ 九羽 きゅうわ 四羽 よんわ 五羽 ごわ 六羽 ろくわ 何羽 なんわ
十羽 じゅうわ
A fun example sentence for this counter is a classic: 庭には二羽の鶏がいる。 “There are 2 chickens in the garden.”
わ
羽 — Birds and rabbits
This kanji means “wings” when pronounced はね‚ and as a counter is used to count birds.Counters and counting — § 5.” The pronunciation for this sentence is “に わに わに わのに わとり が いる”‚
. However‚ birds and adult ﬁsh could still be eaten‚ so in order to be able to eat meat anyway‚ people started calling certain animals by diﬀerent names‚ referring to them as birds of ﬁsh. That said‚ rabbits can of course also be counted using 匹.3 Counters
七匹 しちひき (ななひき) 八匹 はっぴき 九匹 きゅうひき 十匹 じっぴき じゅうっぴき 何匹 なんびき
241
An example sentence would be:
はい
ねずみ一匹でも入れないはずです。 “Not even a single mouse should be able to get in (here). As a peculiarity‚ this counter can also be used to count rabbits (although 匹 is more common these days)‚ because of an interesting bit of Japanese history: from the 6th century until the mid-19th century‚ Japanese people were — by decree — forbidden to eat several kinds of meat between April and October.

とう
頭 — Large animals
This kanji on its own means “head”‚ and for reasons about as inexplicable as why 本 is used for cylindrical objects‚ 頭 is used to count large animals such as sheep‚ cows‚ horses‚ elephants‚ giraﬀes‚ salt water crocodiles (which are astoundingly huge)‚ etc.3 Counters
which is always a good reason to use this sentence whenever appropriately possible.”
にん ・り
人 — People
It should be noted that there are special pronunciations for 1 person and 2 people‚ using the reading り‚ but that 3 and up are all counted using the pronunciation にん:
一人 ひとり 二人 ふたり 三人 さんにん みったり 四人 よにん よったり 五人 ごにん 六人 ろくにん 七人 しちにん
八人 はちにん
九人 きゅうにん
十人 じゅうにん
十一人 じゅういちにん
十二人 じゅうににん
何人 なんにん
An example sentence would be:
.242
Counters and counting — § 5. The pronunciations are:
一頭 いっとう 七頭 ななとう 二頭 にとう 八頭 はっとう 三頭 さんとう 九頭 きゅうとう 四頭 よんとう 十頭 じっとう じゅっとう 五頭 ごとう 六頭 ろくとう
何頭 なんとう
An example sentence would be:
うま み
一頭の馬が見えます。 “(I) can see 1 horse.

4 Occurrences and ranking
ど
度 — Number of times‚ degrees
As a counter for occurrences‚ this counter is principally used only for counting once‚
かい
twice and thrice.Counters and counting — § 5. The pronunciations are:
一度 いちど 七度 しちど 二度 にど 八度 はちど 三度 さんど 九度 きゅうど 四度 よんど 十度 じゅうど 五度 ごど 六度 ろくど 何度 なんど
Example sentences would be:
い くだ
もう一度言って下さいませんか。 “Could you please say that one more time?”
きょう あつ
今日は暑いねえ。何度でしょう。 “It’s hot today‚ don’t you think? I wonder what temperature (literally: how many degrees) it is.3 Counters
ふうふ
243
あの二人は夫婦ですか。 “Are those two (people) over there a (married) couple?” The polite counter for people‚ as used by‚ for instance‚ waiters or receptionists‚
めい めいさま
is 名‚ which has a very polite counterpart: 名様.3. Aside from being used for occurrence‚ 度 is also used to count degrees Celsius‚ and geometric degrees (such as a 90 degree angle‚ or GPS degrees).” This particle is also a noun on itself‚ pronounced たび‚ which is used as a nominaliser for turning clauses into occurrences‚ which will be explained in the next chapter‚ in the nominalisers section. For normal counting of people‚ stick with 人. For something that occurs more than three times‚ 回 is used instead. While strictly speaking not genuinely related to counters‚ a special note for this counter involving the indicator 今‚ meaning “now” and read as こん‚ should be
.
5. However‚ don’t use these counters unless you ﬁnd yourself serving patrons in a restaurant or something similar.

244
こんど
Counters and counting — § 5. The pronunciations are:
一回 いっかい 七回 しちかい (ななかい) 二回 にかい 八回 はっかい 三回 さんかい 九回 きゅうかい 四回 よんかい 十回 じっかい じゅっかい 五回 ごかい 六回 ろっかい 何回 なんかい
An example sentence would be: もう三回してみちゃったよ。 “(I) already tried (and failed) three times…”
こん
The same oddity for 度 exists‚ when pairing 回 with 今:
こんかい なん
今回は何だ。 “Oh‚ now what?” 今回にしましょう。 “Let’s do (that) next time. This counter has a diﬀerent pronunciation for 9‚ so the pronunciations are:
.3 Counters
added: 今度 can either mean “now”‚ or “next time”:
なん
今度は何だ。 “Oh‚ now what?” また今度 ！ “(See you) next time!”
かい
回 — Number of times
Where 度 is used for once‚ twice and thrice‚ 回 can be used for any number of occurrences.”
ばん
番 — Rank
This counter is used to indicate a number in a ranking.

”
ばんごう
The combination of 番 and 号‚ 番号‚ is used to indicate a ranked “number”‚ such as a phone number‚ registration number or product serial number‚ where the number doesn’t particularly indicate a rank on its own‚ but does sit at a particular position in the greater list of all numbers of its category. It can also be used to change the number from an absolute value‚ such as “17 Thornhill Street” to a position in an ordered list‚ such as “the 17th house after you turn left”:
.” The ﬁrst count in this series‚ 一番‚ is the same 一番 that is used in the adjectival superlative in Japanese‚ since it literally means “ﬁrst” and thus also means “most”.
ごう
号 — Issue number
This counter is used to count issues‚ such as magazine or newspaper issues‚ or number in a series‚ such as room numbers on a ﬂoor‚ or the number of a limited series prototype car.3 Counters
一番 いちばん 七番 ななばん 二番 にばん 八番 はちばん 三番 さんばん 九番 くばん 四番 よんばん 十番 じゅうばん 五番 ごばん 何番 なんばん 六番 ろくばん
245
An example sentence would be:
わたし
私 は三番です。 “I’m (up) third. Like 番‚ it has a diﬀerent pronunciation for 9‚ so the pronunciations are:
一号 いちごう 七号 しちごう 二号 にごう 八号 はちごう 三号 さんごう 九号 くごう 四号 よんごう 十号 じゅうごう 五号 ごごう 何号 なんごう 六号 ろくごう
An example sentence would be:
りょうしん す
両親 は１７号に住んでいます。 “My parents live at number seventeen.Counters and counting — § 5.

Another example of this diﬀerence can be shown in the context of waiting for a bus:
ていりゅうじょ の くだ
この 停留所 から５番のバスに乗って下さい。 “Please take the no.”
In the second sentence‚ “seventeenth” is understood to be from some kind of (contextually obvious) reference point‚ like the start of the block‚ or from the ﬂoor’s staircase.”
みっかめ
三日目にホテルで泊まった。 “We stayed at a hotel on the third day.246
Counters and counting — § 5. For instance‚ a runner with the back number “214” could be the ﬁrst person to start in a relay‚ in which case the runner himself would be indicated using 214番のランナー (or 214号 のランナー) but would also be the 一番目のランナー‚ because he’s the ﬁrst runner.
め
∼目 — Ordinality
This is technically not a counter‚ but can be added to rank counters to indicate ordinality — that is‚ it indicates an item’s position in some ordered set. Being very speciﬁc: adding 目 to a counter changes the count from a cardinal number to ordinal number.” この停留所から５番目のバスに乗って下さい。 “Please take the ﬁfth bus at this bus stop. 5 bus at this bus stop.3 Counters 両親は１７号に住んでいます。 “My parents live at number seventeen.” 両親は１７番号に住んでいます。 “My parents are the seventeenth door. For instance‚ it can be used in combination with 日 to create the counter 日 目‚ changing the meaning from “… days” or “day … of the month” to “the …th day (relative to some arbitrary time)”:
みっか と
三日にホテルで泊まった。 “We stayed at the hotel for three days.”
.”
ばんめ
It’s also frequently combined with 番 to create the counter 番目‚ which changes the meaning from a number in a ranking‚ to number of appearance.

m.”
しょうご
To make the “useful words” list complete‚ midday is 正午‚ and midnight is
れいじ
零時. Durational hours are “it took 3 hours” or “I went home after waiting an hour”.m.m.m. This counter is for the ﬁrst category and indicates the hours of the day:
一時 いちじ 八時 はちじ 二時 にじ 九時 くじ 三時 さんじ 十時 じゅうじ 四時 よじ 五時 ごじ 六時 ろくじ 七時 しちじ 何時 なんじ
十一時 じゅういちじ
十二時 じゅうにじ
Note the pronunciations for 4 and 9‚ both being the short pronunciations.m. An example sentence would be: 何時ですか。 “What time is it?”
ごぜん ごご
The indicators for a. Clock hours are things like “three o’ clock” and “seven in the evening”.248
じ
Counters and counting — § 5.m.3 Counters
時 — Clock hours
Don’t confuse clock hours with durational hours. These are preﬁxed to the time:
いま
今午後三時です。 “It is 3 p.
じかん
時間 — Durational hours
かん
By adding the durational particle 間 — literally “interval” — to the counter 時‚ we get the durational counter for hours. The diﬀerence between clock time and duration is striking:
. to 1 p.”
あ
午前九時に会おう。 “Let us convene at 9 a. and p. according to the classical Chinese system. are 午前 and 午後 in Japanese‚ indicating whether a time is before or after the “hour of the horse”‚ which corresponds to the period from 11 a.

” while meaning to say 二時間に勉強しました‚ “I studied for two hours”.3 Counters 何時ですか。 “What time is it?” 何時間ですか。 “How long is it?”
249
This diﬀerence is also very important for actual counting statements.
か にち
日/日 — Days
Moving up from hours to days‚ we reach a rather interesting counter.にち
.” When they really mean to say 三時です‚ “it’s 3 o’ clock”. Quite often‚ people starting with Japanese will mix up 時 and 時間‚ creating sentences such as the following: 三時間です。 “It’s three hours long. The rest of the days are counted using 日 in its pronunciation にち‚ with Chinese read numbers:
一日 ついたち 八日 ようか 十四日 じゅうよっか 二日 ふつか 九日 ここのか 三日 みっか 十日 とおか 四日 よっか 十一日 じゅういちにち 十七日 …にち 五日 いつか 六日 むいか 十二日 …にち 七日 なのか 十三日 …にち
十五日 …にち
十六日 …にち
十八日 …にち
十九日 ….Counters and counting — § 5. Similarly‚ they might say:
べんきょう
二時に 勉強 しました。 “(I) studied at 2 o’ clock. As explained before‚ this counter is special in several ways. Firstly‚ counting 1 to 10 days uses the counter 日 in its pronunciation か‚ paired with native Japanese readings for the numbers. 14 and 24‚ too‚ use 日 pronounced as か‚ but use a mixed Chinese/Japanese reading for the number‚ and “20 days” has its own special word.

Aside from being able to count days‚ it’s also good to be able to name the immediate past and future days:
さきおととい
一昨昨日
おととい
three days ago (2 days before yesterday) day before yesterday yesterday today tomorrow day after tomorrow in three days (2 days after tomorrow)
一昨日
きのう
昨日
きょう
今日
あした ・あす
明日
あさって
明後日
しあさって
明々後日
ほんじつ
You may sometimes head the word 本日 being used to mean “today” (or‚ less
. Also‚ for every other number under 32‚ 日 refers to both day of the month and length of duration in days. Because of this‚ 34‚ 44‚ etc. There are two question words regarding dates.3 Counters
二十三日 …にち 二十九日 …にち 二十四日 にじゅうよっか 三十日 …にち 二十五日 …にち
三十一日 …にち
The reading for 一日 diﬀers depending on what it’s used to mean: ついたち refers to the ﬁrst day of the month‚ but the reading いちにち is also possible‚ in which case it refers to a single day in duration (including ‘my day’ in‚ for instance‚ “my day consists of doing …”).250
二十日 はつか 二十六日 …にち 二十一日 …にち 二十七日 …にち 二十二日 …にち 二十八日 …にち
Counters and counting — § 5. we can be either use いつ‚
なんにち
which means “when”‚ or we can use the counter question word 何日. Any number above 31 automatically only means “days of duration”‚ since months only go up to the 31st at best. have the pronunciation ∼よ(ん)にち instead of ∼よっか. An example sentence would be:
ふつか いっぱく と
二日一泊泊まった。 “(We) stayed 2 days and one night.”
はく
In this sentence a counter that won’t be treated separately‚ 泊‚ is used which means “nights of stay”. We can also ask about the length of duration in days‚ for which we can use two question words too: どのぐらい‚ for approximate duration‚ and 何日‚ for exact duration.

Like 時‚ 週 on its own just refers to the yearly week‚ with 週間 referring to length of duration as measured in weeks.
しゅう
週 — Weeks
Increasing the scale further‚ we reach weeks‚ indicated with 週. However‚ this word is only used when there is some contextual day that is tied to a speciﬁc date.3 Counters
251
frequently‚ “yesterday” or “tomorrow”).” The words for the immediate past and future weeks are:
せんせんしゅう
先先週
せんしゅう
the week before last last week this week next week the week after next
先週
こんしゅう
今週
らいしゅう
来週
さらいしゅう
再来週
しゅうかん
週間 — Weeks of duration
Like 時‚ 週 has to be followed by 間 to turn it into a durational counter:
. The word 本日 literally means “the day in question”‚ and can be taken to mean “today” (or “yesterday” or “tomorrow”) only when the event’s “day in question” coincides with “today” (or “yesterday” or “tomorrow”). The pronunciations are:
一週 いっしゅう 七週 ななしゅう 二週 にしゅう 八週 はつしゅう 三週 さんしゅう 九週 きゅうしゅう 四週 よんしゅう 十週 じっしゅう じゅっしゅう 五週 ごしゅう 何週 なんしゅう 六週 ろくしゅう
An example sentence would be:
ことし まつ
今年の祭りは十八週です。 “This year’s festival is in week 18.Counters and counting — § 5.

The words for the immediate past and future months are:
せんせんげつ
先先月
せんげつ
the month before last last month this month next month the month after next
先月
こんげつ
今月
らいげつ
来月
さらいげつ
再来月
And ﬁnally‚ in the interest of satisfying human curiosity‚ the old names for the months are:
一月
むつき
二月
きさらぎ
三月
やよい
四月
うづき
五月
さつき
六月
みなづき
睦月
如月
弥生
卯月
皐月
水無月
. While western languages typically have named months‚ the Japanese — not too long ago in fact — gave up on named months in favour of the Chinese system of numbered months‚ resulting in:
一月
いちがつ
二月
にがつ
三月
さんがつ
四月
しがつ
五月
ごがつ
六月
ろくがつ
一月
January 七月
しちがつ
二月
February 八月
はちがつ
三月
March
四月
April 十月
じゅうがつ
五月
May
六月
June 十二月
じゅうにがつ
九月
くがつ
十一月
じゅういちがつ
七月
July
八月
August
九月
September
十月
October
十一月
November
十二月
December
The names of the months have been added here to stress that these are not so much numbered months‚ but calendar months.3 Counters 試験はおよそ二週間です。 “The exams are in about two weeks.”
がつ (月) — Calendar months
Like 時 and 週‚ 月 alone refers to month of the year.252
しけん
Counters and counting — § 5. Remember them as such! Also note that there are speciﬁc readings for April‚ July and September. You can’t use another reading for the number for these words — these “counts” are very much ﬁxed in the
なんがつ
Japanese language as nouns. The question word for month of the year is 何月.

Instead‚ the preﬁx ヶ is used‚ but be careful: this is not the katakana ケ‚ but actually a simpliﬁed kanji form of 箇.”
. This is a slightly poetic counter‚ but is also used in formal writing to indicate the 1-3 month durational range:
一月 ひとつき 二月 ふたつき 三月 みつき
かげつ
ヶ月 — Months of duration
While — like 時 and 週 — 月 on its own means “month of the year”‚ the suﬃx 間 cannot be used to turn 月 into a durational counter.3 Counters
七月
ふみづき
253
十二月
しわす
八月
はづき
九月
ながつき
十月
かんなづき
十一月
しもつき
文月
葉月
長月
神無月
霜月
師走
つき
月 — Months of duration
When read as つき‚ and paired with the native Japanese readings for numbers‚ this counter expresses duration in terms of lunar months‚ and is typically only used for indicating 1 to 3 months of duration. ケ 月 — the katakana ケ is much bigger than the simpliﬁed version of 箇.Counters and counting — § 5. You can tell this diﬀerence by looking at the size of the kanji: ヶ月 (かげつ) vs. Why exactly this kanji got simpliﬁed to this deceptive form is not entirely clear‚ but it has‚ which means you’ll need to be able to recognise it as a counter. The standard contractions occur in the pronunciations:
一ヶ月 いっかげつ 二ヶ月 にかげつ 三ヶ月 さんかげつ 四ヶ月 よんかげつ 五ヶ月 ごかげつ 六ヶ月 ろっかげつ
七ヶ月 しちかげつ
八ヶ月 はっかげつ
九ヶ月 きゅうかげつ
十ヶ月 じっかげつ じゅっかげつ
何ヶ月 なんかげつ
An example sentence would be:
がいこく
三ヶ月に外国にいます。 “I will be abroad for three months.

The pronunciations for 年 are:
一年 いちねん 七年 しちねん 二年 にねん 八年 はちねん 三年 さんねん 九年 くねん きゅうねん 四年 よねん 十年 じゅうねん 五年 ごねん 六年 ろくねん 何年 なんねん
An example sentence would be:
ほん めいじ
この本は明治十年の本です。 “This book is from 1877.254
ねん
Counters and counting — § 5.3 Counters
年 — Years
Once more‚ there is the distinction between years in an era‚ 年‚ and years of duration‚ 年間.” (The 明治 era ran from 1868 to 1912‚ so with 1868 being the ﬁrst year‚ the 10th year of the Meiji era is 1877 — more on this later‚ in the section on time and dates) The words for the immediate past and future years are:
さきおととし
一昨昨年
おととし
three years ago (2 years before last) the year before last last year this year next year the year after next
一昨年
きょねん
去年
ことし
今年
らいねん
来年
さらいねん
再来年
ねんせい
年生 — Scholar year
Listed as a separate counter only because this counter will be relevant to you as a student of Japanese‚ 年生 indicates “year of study”‚ so that an 一年生 is a ﬁrst year student‚ and a 四年生 is a fourth year student:
.

”
. The pronunciations are the same as for any other さ-counter:
一歳 いっさい 七歳 ななさい 二歳 にさい 八歳 はっさい 三歳 さんさい 九歳 きゅうさい 四歳 よんさい 十歳 じっさい じゅっさい 五歳 ごさい 六歳 ろくさい 何歳 なんさい
二十歳 はたち
The reading くさい for 九歳‚ while technically possible‚ should be avoided‚
くさ
since it sounds identical to 臭い‚ meaning “smelly/stinky”. Also note that there is a special word for twenty years of age‚ はたち‚ just like there is a special word for twenty days‚ はつか.”
さい さい
歳/才 — Years of age
The one thing 年 cannot be used for is to indicate years of age.Counters and counting — § 5. An example sentence would be:
とう あした
父さんは明日六十一歳になります。 “My father will turn 61 tomorrow.3 Counters
とうだい にねんせい ひむら
255
東大の二年生の日村です。 “(I) am Himura‚ 2nd year student at Tokyo University. For this‚ two special counters are used: 歳 and its simpler counterpart 才.
ねんかん
年間 — Years of duration
Once more‚ adding 間 turns the counter into a durational counter:
ざ まも
三年間チャンピオンの座を守った。 “(He) kept with his title (literally: ‘seat’) as champion for three years. because it is simpler‚ using it is a sign that you’re not quite good enough at kanji yet to write the “real” kanji form. While simpler‚ it’s generally not a good idea to use it in every instance where writing age is required.”
がくぶせい
Undergraduate students are referred to as 学部生‚ and graduate students as
いんせい
院生.

3 Counters
じ
There is a special counter that is used for the ages 20 through 90‚ being 路‚ and using native Japanese numbers (with 十 pronounced そ)‚ although typically only 30 through 60 are actively used:
age 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
count 二十路 三十路 四十路 五十路 六十路 七十路 八十路 九十路
reading ふたそじ みそじ よそじ いそじ むそじ ななそじ やそじ ここのそじ
In addition to these counts‚ there are numerous terms and titles associated with virtually each age‚ but listing all of these goes well beyond the scope of this book.
こと い
いつもそんな事ばかり言っている。 literally: “(You)’re always saying only those kind of things.256
Counters and counting — § 5.
5.3.” meaning: “(You)’re always saying the same thing.6 Additional words for quantiﬁcation
There are also several adverbs that are used to quantify without relying on numbers.
いつも — Always/never
As mentioned in the particle section on も‚ this word doesn’t mean two diﬀerent things in Japanese‚ but merely gets translated with two diﬀerent words depending on whether it’s followed by a positive or negative verb.”
わ
いつもしないのに、どうして分かるんですか。 “Why is it (you) know (how to do it) when (you) never do it (in the ﬁrst place)?”
. Some of these quantiﬁers can only be used with verbs or verbal adjectives in positive or negative form‚ and whenever this is the case‚ this will be explicitly mentioned.

There’s not much else to say about it other than that it’s usually used in combination with a positive verb form:
しちじ お
たいてい七時に起きます。 “(I) usually get up at 7.” There is no real diﬀerence between あまり and あんまり‚ but the la er sounds slightly more emphatic.Counters and counting — § 5.”
あま
余り‚ あんまり — Not often / not much
This adverb actually comes from the the 五段 verb 余る‚ meaning “to be left over”‚ and is the counterpart to よく. It is typically only be used when followed by a negative verb or verbal adjective:
こうちゃ す
紅茶はあんまり好きじゃありません。 “(I) don’t like (red) tea very much.”
よく — Often
We’ve already covered this adverb by virtue of it being the adverbial form of よい.
とても — Very
This quantiﬁer only works when followed by a positive verbal adjective:
やす
これはとても安いですね。 “This is very cheap isn’t it?”
. In a quantifying role‚ it signiﬁes a frequent occurrence of whatever verb it’s being used with:
およ
よく泳ぎます。 “(I) often swim.3 Counters
たいてい
257
大抵 — Usually‚ mostly
When indicating something happens ‘most of the time’‚ or ‘usually’‚ たいてい is used.

ぜんぜん
全然 — Not at all
Like あまり‚ this quantiﬁer is usually followed by a negative verb or verbal adjective:
かま
全然構いませんよ。 “(I) don’t mind at all.” However‚ it derives its negative meaning only from these verbals — there is no rule that says this word cannot be used with aﬃrmative verbals instead‚ in which case it translates to “completely”. Like the こそあど+(で)も words‚ the meaning of 全 然 itself is merely this “complete”-ness‚ connoting “not at all” only because it is paired with a verbal negative.”
ときどき
時々 — Sometimes
The kanji form should already give it away‚ but when activities are performed from time to time‚ 時々 is used:
えいが み い
時々みんなで映画を見に行きます。 “We all go to the cinema together from time to time. In literary material the kanji form is preferred‚ while in informal writing the kana form is used more.258
Counters and counting — § 5.
か
可なり — Considerably‚ rather
Like とても‚ this quantiﬁer only works when followed by positive verbals:
. The choice on whether to use a kanji or kana form depends mostly on intended style.” The construction 時々 may frequently be found wri en as ときどき instead.3 Counters This quantiﬁer can be emphatically intensiﬁed by sticking a っ in‚ to formとっ
ても:
たの
とっても楽しかったよ。 “That was really‚ really fun.

3 Counters
たか
259
これはかなり高いんですね。 “This is rather expensive‚ isn’t it?”
さっぱり — Not at all
Like あまり and ぜんぜん‚ this quantiﬁer is typically followed by a negative verb:
わ
これはさっぱり分かりません。 “(I) don’t understand this at all.Counters and counting — § 5. When used in a negative question‚ the full sentence actually connotes a positive‚ as can be seen in the following examples:
さむ
ちょっと寒くないですか。 “Isn’t it a li le cold?”
.” However‚ on its own さっぱり just means “clean” or “neatly”‚ again highlighting the fact that most quantiﬁers associated with a negative quantity only do so thanks to the negative verb form.
すこ
少し — A li le bit
Literally‚ this quantiﬁer means “in small part”‚ and is usually followed by a positive verb:
ま
少し待てばいいかな。 literally: “Waiting for a li le while is okay‚ isn’t it?” meaning: “Could (we) wait for just a bit?”
にほんご わ
日本語は少し分かります。 “I understand Japanese a li le (bit).”
ちょっと — A li le
This quantiﬁer can be followed by either a positive verb or verbal adjective in normal statements‚ or by negative verbs and verbal adjectives when used in the form of a question.

If pronounced with the っぱい part in a lower pitch‚ it means “one cup (of something)”.”
ずっと — Very much
This quantiﬁer is only used with positive verbal adjectives:
かのじょ
彼女はどんなモデルよりでもずっときれいだ。 “She’s much pre ier than any model.3 Counters ちょっと歩きませんか。 “Shall (we) take a li le walk?” Used with a positive‚ there is nothing remarkable to note:
たか
これはちょっと高いですね。 “This is a bit expensive‚ don’t you agree?”
いっぱい
一杯 — A lot‚ “to the brim”
Mentioned in the counter section for 杯‚ this quantiﬁer can only be used with positive verbs:
ほんじつ よやく
あいにく、本日は予約で一杯です。 “(I)’m sorry‚ but today is fully booked. (Please) add in (even) more (of the) ingredients.”
.” Remember that this is only a quantiﬁer if pronounced with the っぱい part in raised pitch.
もっと — Even more
Used as the comparative for adjectives‚ as well as comparative for verb actions‚ this quantiﬁer can only be used with positive verbs and verbal adjectives:
た ざいりょう い
まだ足りないみたいね。 材料 をもっと入れて。 “It looks like it’s still not enough.260
ある
Counters and counting — § 5.

4 Using numbers
In addition to knowing what to call numbers and which particles to use for counting statements‚ there are two important “number” subjects that deserve special mention: telling time‚ and arithmetic. We’ve already looked at time for a bit in the counter section‚ where we discovered that time counters and duration counters are two diﬀerent things‚ leading us to guess at how to properly tell time‚ but let’s review these particles in a more speciﬁc se ing of
.
ぜんぶ
全部 — All‚ wholly
This quantiﬁer means “all” or “wholly” by virtue of its literal meaning “all parts”:
かね ぜんぶ つか
お金をほとんど全部使ってしまった。 “(I)’ve spent almost all my money. In this section we shall look at these two subjects in depth.Counters and counting — § 5.4.” Beginning students will often mistakenly use this quantiﬁer when meaning
すべ
全て‚ which means “every(thing)” rather than “all”‚ or vice versa‚ so make sure you picked the right one.
5.4 Using numbers
261
This word actually translates to a wide spectrum of words‚ because of what it’s composed of: the mimesis ず paired with と.”
5. This mimesis represents a straight‚ through and through somethingness‚ so that it can be translated as “very much”‚ “completely”‚ and even “forever”‚ depending on the context.1 Telling time and date
Times and dates are closely related subjects‚ so we’ll treat them in one go.
すべ
全て — Every‚ everything
This quantiﬁer is usually paired with positive verbs (and should not be confused
ぜんぶ
with 全部):
ほんだな ほん よ
本棚にある本を全て読んでしまった。 “(I)’ve (sadly) read every book on (my) shelves.

Instead‚ it has a “before” and “after” marker if the time is anywhere from 10-ish minutes before the hour to 10-ish minutes past the hour‚
まえ す
前 and 過ぎ respectively. One is that の is optional. In Japanese‚ adding this indicates an additional half hour (unlike in some western languages‚ where the indicator ‘half’ means removing half an hour from the time):
ななじはん
七時半 7:30 This is of course the same as saying 七時三十分‚ but using 半 is shorter. For instance‚ a TV show that’s on at 1:20 in the early morning‚ may air at 25:20 in Japan). The other thing to note is the use of the suﬃx 半 which indicates “half”. and p.4 Using numbers
actually telling time.” There are two things to note here. The Japanese time format can be represented either in a ‘before noon’/’after noon‘ system or using the 24 hour clock (but unlike the regular concept of ’24 hours’‚ the Japanese clock can go beyond the number 24.m. indications in Japanese
ごぜん ごご
are 午前 and 午後‚ which precede the actual time:
ごご にじはん き
午後(の)二時半に来ます。 “(I) will come at 2:30 p. In fact‚ the whole 午前/午 後 indication is optional‚ since typically it will be obvious whether you mean in the
はん
morning or in the afternoon.m.262
Counters and counting — § 5.m. Unlike some western languages‚ Japanese doesn’t have indicators for the quarters before and past the hour. Two examples of their use are:
よじ じっぷん す ま
もう四時十分過ぎだよ。まだ待つのか。 “It’s already 10 past 4‚ are we still going to wait?”
. It can be left out‚ in which case the statement is slightly less formal. The Japanese way of forma ing times is similar to the western system‚ namely: ﬁrst the hour‚ then minutes‚ then seconds. As an example:
ごじ にじっぷん ごじゅうびょう
五時二十分 五十秒 5:20′50″ As mentioned in the counters section‚ the a. Literally‚ 前 means “before” or “in front of”‚ and 過ぎ is the noun derived from the verb 過ぎる‚ “to be past (some conceptual point)”.

When you want to speciﬁcally refer to “this” morning‚ afternoon‚ evening
けさ こんばん こんや
or night instead‚ the words to use are 今朝‚ [nothing]‚ 今晩 and 今夜 respectively.
しょうわ
The 昭和 era was the era before the current era‚ running from 1926 till 1989. The Japanese format for this is “biggest counter ﬁrst”‚ so the format is: era → year → month → day → (day by name) → hour → minutes → seconds The era bit is important here‚ as the Japanese calendar doesn’t actually correspond to the western calendar.” The preﬁx 毎‚ as you may remember from the outline‚ is a preﬁx used to indicate “every […]” and is used here to indicate frequent behaviour rather than just a single event.
たいしょう
The 大正 era is the last most recent era still covering the 1900’s‚ running from 1912 till 1926. While the Japanese will use the Gregorian calendar when necessary‚ the “proper” Japanese way to count years is to name the era to which you are referring‚ and then count the number of years since its epoch. Also notice the readings for ‘this morning’ and ‘this night’‚ which might be diﬀerent from what you would expect. Since these are reasonably important to know‚ the list of most recent eras — ordered most recent to oldest — is as follows:
へいせい
The 平成 era is the current era‚ which started in 1989 and will last as long as emperor Akihito remains emperor. If you don’t want to use 午前 or 午後‚ you can also say whether you mean in the morning‚ afternoon‚ evening or night‚ by
あさ ひる ばん よる
using the nouns 朝‚ 昼‚ 晩 and 夜 respectively:
まいあさ ななじ いえ で
毎朝七時に家を出ます。 “(I) leave the house every morning at 7. If we want to be more speciﬁc‚ we might add a date to the time we’re stating.
めいじ
The 明治 era is the ﬁrst of the “recent” eras‚ starting at the Meiji restoration in 1868 running till 1912.
.4 Using numbers
ばんぐみ いちじ ごふん まえ はじ
263
その番組は一時五分前に始まります。 “That programme will start 5 (minutes) to 1.Counters and counting — § 5. There’s no real reason why there is no word for “this afternoon”‚ but there just isn’t
きょう
any. Instead‚ 今日 meaning “today” is typically used.” But telling time alone isn’t everything.

4 Using numbers
The numbering for eras is reasonably intuitive: the ﬁrst year of an era is the year the era started. The Japanese week is as follows:
にちようび
日曜日
げつようび
“sun day of the week” “moon day of the week” “ﬁre day of the week” “water day of the week” “wood day of the week” “metal day of the week” “earth day of the week”
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
月曜日
かようび
火曜日
すいようび
水曜日
もくようび
木曜日
きんようび
金曜日
どようび
土曜日
While many of the western days of the week derive their name from Norse mythology (more speciﬁcally‚ the names of the Norse gods)‚ the Japanese — as well as several other Asian countries — use the elements for their day naming‚ with the sun and the moon to complete the set of seven. If we write out the full date for when this section was ﬁrst wri en‚ we get: 平成十七年五月二十四日(の火曜日)二時十九分五十五秒 Heisei 17 (= 2005)‚ May 24th (Tuesday)‚ 2:19′55″ While using kanji for the numerals is a perfectly valid way to write full dates‚ it’s easier to read if numerals are used instead: 平成17年5月24日(の火曜日)2時19分55秒 It might also be a good idea to list the days while we’re at it. When indicating day-series such as “mon-wed-fri” in English‚ the Japanese use two syllable pronunciations for the days in question. Thus‚ “ 大正 1” corresponds to 1912‚ and “ 昭和 30” corresponds to 1955.264
Counters and counting — § 5. These two “come ﬁrst”‚ so the Japanese week conceptually starts on a Sunday‚ even if the ﬁrst day of the work week is Monday. However‚ days with only
ようび
a single syllable before the 曜日 part will have their vowel doubled:
げっすいきん
月水金
かーもくどう
mon-wed-fri tue-thu-sat
火木土
.

These four operations sum up the basic mathematical operations one can perform on numbers‚ and covers what most people consider enough when it comes to doing maths. While‚ of course‚ explaining all mathematical operations is well beyond the scope of this book‚ we will also look at powers and roots‚ in addition to the four basic arithmetic operations.
Addition
Addition is the root of all things maths related. Luckily (though not unexpectedly) Japanese has all three of these.
5.2 Basic arithmetic
One of the most useful things you can do with numbers is turn them into other numbers‚ by applying such wonderful operations as addition‚ subtraction‚ division and multiplication. Numbers we have already seen plenty of‚ the outcome marker is simply です‚ and the verb
た
that we use for addition is 足す.
.” Where ちょうど is a nice li le word meaning ‘exact’ or ‘precise’.Counters and counting — § 5. The mathematical part of this concept is to determine how much more you have‚ and for this we need three things: numbers‚ something that states addition‚ and something that marks an outcome.4.” In this use‚ 足す acts remarkably western in that even though 足す is used in 連体形‚ and should thus be a ributive‚ 一足す四 does not say “a one-added four”‚ but merely says “one plus four” (this is also the case for the verb used for subtraction). The idea of addition is a childishly simple one: you have something‚ you get more‚ you have more.4 Using numbers
265
Note that contractions occur when pairing 月 with 水‚ because of the つ in the pronunciation for 月. We can also use 足す on its own‚ for such obvious things as:
にじゅうえん た いち よん ご
二十円を足せば、ちょうどにする。 “If (you) add 20 yen‚ that’ll make it (a) round (number). In this sentence‚ it is interpreted as “round number”‚ because in the context of numbers‚ a precise number corresponds to a ‘clean’ number‚ which can either be a round number‚ or a number without a decimal fraction. 一足す四は五です。 “One plus four is ﬁve.

In Japanese‚ this ‘factor‚ then denominator’ order is the reverse‚ so instead of saying “three ﬁfths”‚ in Japanese you say “ﬁve’s three”:
ごぶん さん
五分の三。 literally: “three ﬁve-parts” “⅗” This uses the genitive の to link 三‚ 3‚ as genitivally belonging to 五分‚ ⅕. This is actually a rather interesting word‚ because on its own it means “two fold”‚ such as in for instance:
もんだい
問題が倍になった。 “(Our) problems doubled. One thing to note here is that in this use‚ 分 is pronounced ぶん‚ and this is the reason why the counter series for minutes has an oddity for three‚ where ふん becomes ぷん instead of ぶん:
kanji 三分 三分 pronunciation さんぷん さんぶん meaning Three minutes A third
Multiplication
ばい
A ﬁnal simple operation is multiplication‚ which uses the noun 倍.266
Counters and counting — § 5.4 Using numbers
Subtraction
ひ
For subtraction‚ 引く instead of 足す is used:
さんびゃく ごじゅうさん にひゃくよんじゅうなな
三百 引く五十三は 二百四十七 です。 “300 minus 53 is 247.” Interestingly‚ this noun can also be used in combination with other numbers (except of course the number 1) to indicate any random multiplication:
.”
Division
Division in Japanese is done in the same way as in western maths‚ but the phrasing is somewhat confusing if you don’t pay a ention: in western maths‚ the number that results from 3 × ⅕ is pronounced “three ﬁfths”.

Counters and counting — § 5.4 Using numbers
ごばい しち さんじゅうご

267

五倍の七は三十五です。 “7 times 5 is 35.” Here‚ the literal statement is “the ﬁve-fold of seven is 35”. This is basic multiplication‚ but there’s also another word that’s used for the x-fold for one through ten involving the counter 重‚ which is pronounced in various diﬀerent ways this role:
一重 ひとえ いちじゅう 七重 ななえ しちじゅう 二重 ふたえ にじゅう 八重 やえ 三重 みえ さんじゅう 四重 x しじゅう 十重 とえ 幾重 いくえ 五重 いつえ ごじゅう 六重 x ろくじゅう

九重 ここのえ くじゅう きゅうちょう

You may have noticed that this is perhaps the most bizarre counter series the language has; the counter has three diﬀerent possible readings‚ has a mix of possible native Japanese and Chinese readings for the numbers‚ and the native reading used for 10 is very rare one‚ not to mention the question word uses 幾 instead of 何. Needless to say‚ this counter series is “special”. In fact‚ it’s so special that it’s a mainly literary counter for “-fold”‚ where it depends on the context which reading is used. In eloquent language‚ え is more likely‚ and in technical literature‚ じゅう will be used more.

5.4.3 More advanced mathematics
While there are many topics that we could treat here‚ this isn’t a book on mathematics in Japanese. Treating all mathematical topics would take up too many pages‚ and would for the most part be rather boring. Instead‚ we’ll look at two more “simple”‚ but less basic‚ mathematical constructions before moving on to “real” language pa erns.

Squaring and cubing
へいほう りっぽう

There are two special words for squaring (x²) and cubing (x³)‚ 平方 and 立方‚ used to indicate squared and cubed units respectively. For instance‚ when indicating something is 500 square kilometres‚ one would say:

Or‚ if one wanted to say a particular vehicle has a 12 cubic meter interior‚ one could say:
なかみ

中身は12立方メートルです。 “The interior ﬁts 12 cubic meters.”

Raising to a power and taking roots
Going beyond squares or cubes‚ and raising numbers to an arbitrary power in Japanese
じょう

uses the counter 乗 ‚ and is used in the following way:
しち さんじょう さんびゃくよんじゅうさん

七の 三乗 は 三百四十三 です。 “7 to the power 3 is 343.” The inverse of this operation is taking the root of some power‚ which is done
じょうこん

with the “counter” 乗根 ‚ which is just the counter for raising power paired with the noun for ‘root’:
よんじゅうきゅう にじょうこん しち

四十九 の二乗根は七です。 “The square root of 49 is seven.” And that’s it‚ that’s all the mathematics you will probably care to know how to work with‚ so let’s leave the numbers as what they are and move on to the next chapter‚ which deals with more general language pa erns.

Chapter 6

Language pa erns
So far we’ve covered verbal grammar‚ particles‚ and counters‚ as well as a handful of related “handy words” that ﬁll in some of the gaps. However‚ that still leaves quite a number of constructions that you should be familiar with if you want to use Japanese to any serious degree‚ and so in this last chapter we will look at the rest of the useful Japanese that we still need to cover. In this chapter‚ we’ll look at how to draw comparisons between things‚ making choices‚ indicating possibilities‚ talking about trying things and having things done‚ how to nominalise statements so that we can talk about them objectively (not an unimportant trick!) and the exceedingly important rules for the core of true Japanese social language pa erns: giving and receiving‚ and humble and honoriﬁc speech.

6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
Comparing and choosing are two very related subjects. Making a choice is essentially the same as making a subjective comparison‚ where one thing is more favourable than the other. In Japanese we see two types of choices: the binary choice‚ and the open choice.

6.1.1 Binary choices
The binary choice is simply a choice between two things. One’s preference can swing one way or the other‚ or one can indicate that either choice is ﬁne‚ or both are to be
ほう

rejected. This binary choice concept in Japanese uses the word 方‚ literally “direction”‚ in the following questioning pa ern: [X]と[Y]と、どちら(どっち)の方が(some judgement call)ですか。 “Which is more (something); X‚ or Y?”

269

270

Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice

Note that this uses a two item‚ inclusive list‚ with either two と particles‚ or a comma after the second choice item (though typically commas are avoided). Because of the use of どちらの方 or どっちの方 (the ﬁrst being more formal than the second) this pa ern literally asks “A and B; which direction is [more] [something]?” and can be applied to virtually anything:
す

電車とバスとどちらの方が速いですか。 “Which is faster? The train or the bus?” Remember that adjectives in Japanese act both as a ributives as well as comparatives‚ so the translation for the last line could also be “which one is fast‚ the train or the bus?”‚ but it is far more likely that the speaker means “which one is faster?” because of the fact that a choice is being used in the question. There is always the possibility that the answer to this question is “both” or “neither”‚ which use the same words in Japanese: どちらも‚ or the more colloquial どっちも followed by a positive or negative evaluation (recall this from the section
りょうほう

A: 音楽の中で何が好きですか。 B: そうですね。ジャズが好きです。 A: “Music-wise‚ what do you like?” (literally: “from music‚ what do you like?”) B: “Hmm. I like jazz.” This is an example of a categorical choice where the respondent actually gives a speciﬁc answer. Questions like “What food do you like?” and “Which cars are fast?” ﬁt this pa ern. There is an exception to using this pa ern which involves open choices for locations‚ such as “Which cities in Europe have you been to?”: as で is already a marker for location‚ the の中 part is dropped when asking location questions:
とし い こと

ヨーロッパでどんな都市に行った事がありますか。 “Which cities in Europe have you been to?” Again‚ it might be that none of the choices are good‚ or that they’re all equally
りょうほう

ﬁne. Instead of using どちらも‚ どっちも or 両方 も‚ 何も or 何でも are used for this particular pa ern‚ to indicate “everything” or “nothing”‚ depending on the verb form that follows being positive or negative:
た とく もの なに おい おも おも

6.1.3 Comparison through likeness‚ and impressions
Closely related to choices is the concept of comparing things. After all‚ if you cannot make comparisons‚ you cannot determine preference. There are quite a number of ways in which to compare things in Japanese‚ with varying degree of strength in the

272

Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice

comparison‚ and varying nuance in the exact way the likeness (or contrast) works.
よう

You have already seen some ways in which to do this‚ such as そう and 様 in the verb and particles sections‚ but there are quite a few more‚ which we will now look at.

そう — Weak impression (連用形‚ 語幹)‚ second hand information (連 体形)
The noun adjective そう (a こそあど word) paired with a verb in 連用形 or a verbal adjective’s stem‚ is used to create the construction of “appearing to be (at the point of) …” or “seems to be … (to the speaker)”. And example of this using a verb is:
しごと でき

仕事が出来そうですね。 “It looks like (you)’ll be able to perform this job.” And examples of using verbal adjectives are:
あたた

温 かそうです。 “It seems warm.”
はや くるま

速そうな 車 。 “A fast looking car.” For いい and ない‚ this construction is slightly diﬀerent. Rather than よそう (remember that いい is just the alternative 連体形 for よい) and なそう‚ these two adjectives become よさそう and なさそう respectively. Note that this “そう as likeness” only works with verbs in 連用形‚ and verbal adjective stems. そう can also be used in combination with verbal 連体形‚ but then it means something quite diﬀerent: rather than indicating impression‚ this combination indicates second hand information:
しごと でき

仕事が出来るそうです。 “I heard you’d be able to perform this job.”
あたた

温 かいそうです。 “They say it’s warm.”

Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
はや くるま

273

速いそうな 車 。 “They say that’s a fast car.” This kind of second hand information is also called “hearsay”‚ although this term should not be taken too literally; it equally applies to second hand information from reading a book or watching a documentary on television‚ not just having been told something. As long as it’s strictly speaking unveriﬁed information‚ it counts as hearsay. For nouns‚ a fully qualiﬁed statement involving the plain copula is used: 先生だそうです。 “I heard he’s a teacher.”

よう

様 — Strong impression‚ manner‚ having the appearance of
To explain this word‚ we must brieﬂy look at classical Japanese‚ in which the noun 様‚ pronounced さま‚ was used to indicate a “seemingness”‚ which we still see in exくろう さま ちそう さま

pressions such as ご苦労様 or ご馳走様. These mean‚ respectively‚ “having the appearance of being a hardship” and “having the appearance of being a feast”. This meaning is preserved in modern Japanese through the use of 様 still‚ but read as よ う. This noun adjective combines with 連体形 to create a conceptual likeness‚ relating two manners or behaviours to each other:
き くだ

聞かないようにして下さい。 connotes: “Please go about your business in a manner that makes it appear as if you didn’t hear that.” meaning: “Please act like you didn’t hear that.” A special use of this likeness adverb is with the こそあど series この‚ その‚ あ の and どの‚ with which it sets up an explicit “manner” indicator: このように - in this manner そのように - in that manner あのように - in that manner like so どのように - in which manner Very similar in meaning to the こう‚ そう‚ ああ and どう series‚ the decision

274

Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice

of whether to use こう or このよう (or そ-‚ あ- and ど- equivalents) is mostly decided by what one’s intention is. When you need to be instructive‚ or want to highlight a speciﬁc act and the performing of it‚ こう is used. If one instead wants to illustrate or describe‚ このように (etc.) is used. As such‚ both of the following sentences are possible:
はし つか

お箸はこう使います。 “This is how (you) use chopsticks.”
はし つか

お箸はこのように使います。 “This is how (you) use chopsticks.” However‚ the ﬁrst sentence is instructive (telling us what to do)‚ whereas the second sentence is illustrative of a process‚ not so much telling us what to do‚ but telling us how things are. To highlight the diﬀerence‚ imagine that some instructor says お箸はこう使います‚ and then picks up a pair of chopsticks to demonstrate how to hold them‚ and how to pick things up. For the second sentence‚ the instructor has already demonstrated how to hold them‚ and is in the middle of showing how to pick things up with them when he says お箸はこのように使います. In the ﬁrst se ing‚ the sentence acts as a set-up for the actual process‚ whereas in the second se ing‚ the sentence summarises what’s already going on. This also means that このように (etc.) can be used in certain situations where こう (etc.) do not make sense‚ such as in purely illustrative se ings.
よう

様 + に + する/なる
よう can also be used in the special combination 連用形 + ように + する. This construction literally translates to “Doing‚ in a way that is akin to …”‚ which is a bit cryptic‚ so an example to demonstrate the use:
でんわ

電話をかけるようにする。 literally: “(I) will do (something)‚ in a way that is akin to telephoning”. meaning: “(I) will try to call (you)” However‚ do not confuse this —ように+する with —ように+なる‚ which indicates something ending up like something else‚ rather than trying to do something: 電話をかけるようにした。 “(I) tried to (make sure to) call (you)”

Language pa erns — § 6. A special set of words with this likeness adverb is its combination with the こそあど series こんな (etc. For instance‚ if we have the impression something is tall‚ then we can also describe it as “being like something that is tall”. That may sound a bit cryptic‚ so an example:
い でき
そんな風に言われても、出来ないものは出来ないだろう。 literally: “Even by talking (to me) in that fashion‚ things that cannot be done‚ cannot be done.in that way/style like that どんな風に .in which way/style This combination is used when one wants to focus speciﬁcally on a way something is (or has been) done.” In this sentence‚ the そんな風に言われても highlights the way something was said‚ without saying what this way is‚ instead relying on the listener to know “in which way” the verb action occurred.in that way/style あんな風に . When we have an impression of something based on secondary information‚ or indirect observation‚ we can use the verbal adjective らしい to indicate this‚ by using it in combination with verbal 連体形‚ or following a noun phrase:
. As such‚ impression words are also quite important to know.in this way/style そんな風に . It is‚ eﬀectively‚ a rhetorical adverb‚ qualifying a verb action with itself. It closely
とうせいふう
translates to ‘way’‚ or ‘style’‚ and this meaning is evident in words like 当世風 meaning
りょうふう
“modern” (‘the now-a-day style’) or 良風 ‚ “good customs” (‘good style’).): こんな風に .
らしい — Strong impression based on secondary information
Similar to likening something to something else‚ impressions are one’s own projections of likeness onto something.” meaning: “Ask (me) any way (you) want‚ (I) cannot do what (I) cannot do.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice 電話をかけるようになった。 “(I) ended up calling (you)”
275
ふう
風 — Manner‚ style
The noun adjective 風‚ like 様‚ likens something to a particular manner.

” Because みたい is a noun adjective‚ it can also be used to form (complex) a ributive phrases:
かた
硬い先生です。 “(He is a) strict teacher. Of course‚ if Kimura herself was the one talking‚ then the use of らしい indicates that this ﬁts Kimura’s expected behavioural pa ern.
みたい — Strong impression based on direct observation
When commenting on an impression based on direct observation‚ the noun adjective みたい is used after 連体形 clauses‚ as well as noun phrases:
つか
疲れてるみたいですね。 “(He) looks likes (he)’s tired‚ doesn’t (he).
.” 硬いみたいな先生です。 “(He is a) teacher who looks like (he)’s strict.276
ほん
Language pa erns — § 6.” meaning: “That’s so like Kimura. In addition to this‚ らしい can be used to indicate that something generates a certain impression:
い かた きむら
その言い方は、木村さんらしいですね。 literally: “That way of speaking (plus what was said)‚ is just like (what) Kimura (would use). If we are dealing with someone other than Kimura saying something‚ then the commenter’s use of らしい indicates that they are reminded of how Kimura would talk or behave in that situation.”
よう
みたい is very similar to らしい and 様.” There are two possible situations here.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
やまだ くん
この本は山田君のらしい(です)。 It seems that this book is Yamada’s.

基本的
じっさいてき
実際的
しゅたいてき
主体的
These comparative nouns are used like normal noun adjectives for comparisons: 基本的につまらないでしょう。 “It would basically be uninteresting. “subject”‚ “constituent”.”
っぽい — Traits‚ general likeness
This noun suﬃx is comparable to the English suﬃx “-ish”:
きみこ おとこ
君子さんって、 男 っぽいですよね。 “Kimiko’s kind of a tomboy‚ isn’t she?” This sentence literally reads “Kimiko’s mannish‚ don’t you think?” This suﬃx also works to indicate traits in something:
りょうり おも
この料理がフランスっぽいと思わない？ “Don’t you think this food tastes kind of French?” This sentence literally reads “Don’t you think this food is French(ish)?”
おな
同じ — Identical (in some way)
The adjective 同じ is actually an odd word‚ a remnant of the classical Japanese 同 じき‚ not quite ﬁ ing in the modern verbal adjective class‚ nor quite ﬁ ing in the noun adjective class.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
てき
277
∼的 — Likeness adverbs
This is a noun adjective that is used primarily as a noun suﬃx‚ to create “-ly”‚ “-al”‚ or “-ive” nouns for comparisons‚ such as:
adjective
きほんてき
meaning “basically” “practical” “subjective”
from noun 基本 実際 主体
meaning “basis”.Language pa erns — § 6. Using the construction [X]と同じです is the strongest possible comparison that can be made‚ as it doesn’t so much liken two (or more) things to each other‚ but explicitly claims they are identical in some way. “the way things are now”.
.

278
へや
Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
となり
この部屋は 隣 のと同じです。 “This room is the same as the neighbouring one. If you can remember that‚ you should be ﬁne.” Of course‚ B literally says “I am Uematsu‚ the same”‚ but unlike in for instance English‚ it is not impolite in Japanese to omit this contextually already present information‚ since Japanese is a language in which context is presumed to remain known throughout a conversation. For verbs and verbal adjectives‚ this suﬃx is added to the 連用形:
とけい すす
この時計は進みがちです。 “This clock tends to run fast. Basically all you have to remember is that for all intents and purposes‚ 同じ is the noun and 同じく the adverb.
が
勝ち — Prone
Closely related to likeness‚ the noun adjective がち is used to compare something in the “prone to” way.” However‚ there are no clear rules on when one can use の‚ so typically it’s best to stick with using がち as a normal noun adjective‚ using な.”
.” While this is a noun adjective‚ rather than using 同じ + に when we want to use it adverbially‚ we use the verbal adjective adverbial form: 同じく:
だいがく にねんせい うえまつ いしだ
A: 大学の二年生の石田です。 B: 同じく、植松です。 A: “I am Ishida‚ 2nd year university student.” B: “I am Uematsu‚ also a 2nd year university student. While a noun adjective‚ there are some instances where がち can be used with の‚ rather than with the 連体形 for だ‚ な‚ as well:
いもうと びょうき ひと
妹 が病気がちの人です。 “My (younger) sister is someone who’s prone to illness.

1.” Using に‚ on the other hand‚ makes the statement describe general likeness‚ or a likeness in a particular (but unspeciﬁc) way:
ははおや よ
母親に良く似ている。 “(She) really takes after (her) mother.”
やま
その山はアヒルに似てる、なぁ。 “That mountain (kind of) resembles a duck‚ doesn’t it?”
6.Language pa erns — § 6. Typically used in .4 Discussing possibilities
Related to choices‚ comparisons and likeness‚ there is the subject of possibilities. This construction translates to “it could be that …”‚ implying that the speaker doesn’t actually know‚ but is not ruling out that something could be the case.
し
かも知れない — May or may not
し
The ﬁrst‚ and probably most used‚ is the construction かも知れない. things “may” or “might” be‚ “can” or “could” be‚ they’re possible‚ likely‚ unlikely‚ or even “stand a chance to be”.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
に
279
似る — Resemblance
A ﬁnal way to indicate likeness is by using the verb 似る meaning “to resemble” or “to be similar”. In Japanese‚ too‚ there are a number of useful ways to describe possibilities‚ which we shall look at in this section.”
きん いろ しんちゅう
金は色が 真鍮 と似ている。 “The colour of gold is (sort of) the same as brass. In English‚ we can indicate possibility in a variety of ways. Using と makes the statement describe near-exact likeness:
かんが わたし
その 考 えは 私 のと似ています。 “Those ideas are like the ones I had.ている form‚ this verb is used in combination with the particles と or に‚ where the choice of particle determines the nuance of likeness. 知れない. This construction technically consists of the particles か and も‚ followed by the negative short potential of 知る‚ to know‚ or be informed.
.

Looking at just the kanji‚ the word literally reads “great part”‚ and that’s pre y much what it means‚ too.”
かのうせい
可能性 — Possibility of
You can‚ of course‚ also be more literal when talking about the possibility of someかのうせい
thing‚ by using the actual noun for “possibility”‚ 可能性 (often also used to refer to an available “option”).
き なつやす おおさか
まだ決めてないんだが、夏休みは多分、大阪になる。 “We’ve not quite decided yet‚ but we’ll probably head oﬀ to Osaka for the summer.280
い
Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
い
A: 行かないと言っただろう。 B: まあ、そう言ったかもしれません。 A: “Didn’t he say he wasn’t coming?” B: “He might have said something like that. Further alternatives are the highly colloquial かも知れん‚ and just the particles‚ かも:
いしだ す お
A: 石田さん、めがねを落としたか。 B: 捨てたかも、な。 A: “Did Ishida lose his glasses?” B: “Maybe he (actually) threw them away.
.”
たぶん
多分 — Probably
When a speaker suspects something to be the case‚ but they’re not 100% certain‚ they will use 多分 to indicate this. Usually this is paired with the verb ある‚ to indicate that the speaker believes there is the possibility of something‚ in a way that is more literal than using かも知れない.” As can be seen from the previous example‚ かもしれない can also be used as かもしれません — they’re just diﬀerent politeness levels.

きっと — Surely
When a speaker is hopeful that something is the case‚ きっと can be used.Language pa erns — § 6.1 Comparisons‚ preferences and choice
じばく き
281
自爆する可能性があるから、気をつけて。 “Now‚ this thing might self-detonate‚ so be careful.
かなら
必 ず — Certainly
When a speaker is positively certain of something‚ then 必ず can be used‚ which translates to “necessarily” or‚ more in keeping with the ず negative it really is‚ “without fail”:
く
必ず来るんだ。 “(They)’re certain to show up.” Of course‚ 可能性 can also be used with negative statements‚ usually involving ない:
しっぱい
失敗する可能性でもありません。 “There’s not even the possibility of failing. There are a number of words that express this more subjective kind of “possibility”‚ which deserve just as much mention as the previous set of words. Associated with a positive kind of wishful thinking‚ it is typically translated as “surely”:
く
きっと来るんだよ。 “I am sure (they)’ll show up!” In this sentence‚ the speaker can either be conﬁdent‚ or can be hoping strongly for the outcome they are talking about‚ even if there’s the possibility that this will not be the case.5 Discussing certainty
In addition to objective possibilities‚ there’s also the more subjective idea of certainty.”
6.1.
.” In this sentence‚ the speaker is highly conﬁdent in the outcome‚ even if their certainty is based purely on subjective information.

”
6.282
Language pa erns — § 6. For this‚ we can use a
わ
construction we already saw in the particle section on か‚ namely [X]かどうか分かり ません:
ことし お わ
今年は落とすかどうか分かりません。 “I don’t know whether or not I’ll make this year’s grade.2 Nominalising
Nominalisers are those words that turn words that aren’t nouns‚ or entire phrases‚ speciﬁcally into noun phrases‚ so that they can be used in larger sentences as topics‚ subjects‚ direct objects or what have you. We have already seen some nominalisers in the particle section (such as の‚ もの and こと)‚ and these will be further explained in their roles as nominalisers in this section. The clause about which uncertainty is to be expressed is followed by かどうか‚ which is basically the double question mentioned in the particle section for か‚ creating (essentially literally) “[clause] or what?” The ﬁnal verb then comments on the fact that it’s not clear which of the two choices are actually to be picked. It should be noted that most nominalisers require speciﬁc particles to follow them in order to work the way they do‚ so when studying nominalisers‚ don’t just study the words‚ but also remember which nominalisers take which particles. 今年は落とす。 “(I) will fail this year.
.”
The way this is formed is very simple.2 Nominalising
Uncertainty — [X]かどうか[Y]
Finally‚ there will be times when you are not so much certain‚ but actually uncertain about whether or not something is the case‚ or will happen.” 今年は落とすかどうか。 “Will (you) fail this year or…?” 今年は落とすかどうか分かりません。 “(I) don’t know whether (I) will fail this year or not.

2. on its own it can mean anything that can be approximated with “the [going to the art gallery]”. This turns any clause that precedes it into a back referral to something either previously mentioned‚ or previously established as the topic somehow.” Here‚ the clause 勉強しにアメリカに行く‚ “to go to America to study”‚ has been turned into an abstract idea‚ about which the comment “I have not yet really thought about it” is made. For instance:
べんきょう い こと かんが
勉強 しにアメリカに行く事がまだよく 考 えていません。 “(I) have not yet seriously considered whether or not to go to America to study.2. Another example of the use of こと can be seen in the following example:
.1 Back referral‚ using の
The simplest nominaliser is just the nominalising の.” We can nominalise this sentence into a back referral using の by appending it to this sentence: 美術館を見に行くの This has no direct translation on its own‚ but requires a bigger context to operate in. Say we have the following sentence:
びじゅつかん み い
美術館を見に行く。 “Going to an art gallery. Only when used in a bigger sentence will this noun clause really make sense:
たの
美術館を見に行くのが楽しかった。 “Going to (the) art gallery (today) was fun.2 Nominalising
283
6.” Here‚ the noun phrase has been turned into a back referral to something that happened.2 Abstract conceptualisation‚ using 事
The noun こと is used to turn clauses into an abstract thought‚ rather than the actual thing.
こと
6.Language pa erns — § 6.

Rather than the speciﬁc “having been to France (when you went on your trip)”‚ the question is now about “having been to France”‚ in general.” Here‚ 秘密を隠しておける‚ “to be able to keep a secret a secret” is conceptualised using もの to form 秘密を隠しておけるもの‚ which translates to “that which is
. It should be noted that these are genuine abstractions.3 Real conceptualisation‚ using 物
As mentioned in the outline‚ 物‚ often wri en as もの‚ conceptualises real‚ but not necessarily tangible‚ things.
もの
6. 言ったこと does not only refer to the actually spoken words‚ but also the thoughts that they stood for‚ and 付け加える likewise stands not just for words‚ but for thoughts that can be added to the already existent thoughts on whatever was being discussed. This plain past tense + 事 is also used to ask whether or not someone has experience with something‚ in the pa ern [plain past tense] + 事がある: フランスに行った事がありますか。 “Have (you) ever been to France?” This sentence diﬀers signiﬁcantly from the direct question: ランスに行きましたか。 “Did you go to France?” This direct question implies a context in which someone has gone somewhere‚ and you’re asking them where they went.2 Nominalising 私 の言った事に何か付け加える事はありませんか。 “Would (you) like to add anything to what (I)’ve said?”
In this sentence‚ there are two abstractions going on: one is the abstraction of 言った‚ “said”‚ to 言った事 ‚ “the thing that was said”‚ and the second from 付け加え る‚ “to add” (a compound verb coming from 付ける‚ “to a ach”‚ and 加える‚ “to add”)‚ to 付け加える事‚ “(a) thing to add”. For instance‚ the following sentence is about a very intangible‚ but very real thing:
ひみつ かく
いつまでもその秘密を隠しておけるものじゃないよ。 “(You) can’t keep that secret hidden forever. Instead‚ by using 事‚ the concept of “having been to France” is turned into a generalised abstract concept.2.284
わたし い なに つ くわ
Language pa erns — § 6.

This is diﬀerent from an abstraction using こと (事): 秘密を隠しておけること The concept ‘being able to keep a secret a secret’ いつまでも秘密を隠しておけること The concept ‘being able to keep a secret a secret forever’ This concept can be talked about as‚ for instance‚ ‘being hard’ or ‘being impossible’‚ or even ‘is unnatural’.” Used as a nominaliser‚ it turns the preceding part into a circumstance‚ which can be commented on‚ by connecting it to either a noun phrase using の‚ or directly to verbal 連体形:
. the concept of being able to keep a secret hidden from the rest of the world is something abstract‚ while the actual act of being able to keep some secret hidden is concrete.Language pa erns — § 6. For the abstract idea‚ こと is used. Used as a noun on its own‚ 場合 has these same meanings:
ちが
場合によって違います。 literally: “It is diﬀerent depending on circumstances” meaning: “It depends on the circumstances.
6.4 Illustrating a circumstance‚ case or occasion‚ using
ばあい
場合
When you want to illustrate an occasion‚ circumstance or situation‚ you use the nominaliser ばあい‚ which is typically followed by the particle に to indicate point in time.2. For the concrete event‚ もの is used.2 Nominalising
285
‘being able to keep a secret a secret’”. However‚ using もの such as in: 秘密を隠しておけるもの That which is ‘being able to keep a secret a secret’ or いつまでも秘密を隠しておけるもの That which is ‘being able to keep a secret a secret forever’ only lets use say that it exists or not‚ and that’s roughly all it allows us to say.

しだい
6. When paired with nouns 次第‚ often also found wri en as しだい‚ tends to be translated as a “dependence on”:
ねだん か
値段しだいで買います。 “I’ll buy it‚ depending on the price.” In this sentence‚ the clause お金が足りない‚ “(I) do not have enough (suﬃcient) money”‚ has been turned into a circumstance‚ with a comment concerning that circumstance‚ should it arise.” However‚ in this use there is no の between the noun and しだい.5 Indicating a moment of opportunity‚ using 次第
つぎ だい
If we look at the kanji form of this nominaliser we see 次‚ meaning “next”‚ and 第 meaning “number” or “instance”.2. In fact‚ adding one will radically change the meaning of the phrase‚ as the noun 次第 means
. For instance:
み し くだ
見つけ次第知らせて下さい。 “Please let (me) know the moment (you) ﬁnd out”
れんようけい
This sentence turns the clause 見つけ‚ the 連用形 for 見つける‚ “to discover/ ﬁnd out”‚ into a moment of opportunity should it occur‚ where the action to then take is to let someone know of this discovery.”
In this sentence‚ the clause 君‚ a personal pronoun meaning “you”‚ has been paired with 場合 to create “your circumstance”‚ about which a comment is made.2 Nominalising 君の場合には例外とする。 “(We)’ll consider your case an exception.286
きみ れいがい
Language pa erns — § 6. It can also come after 連体形 forms‚ but when used this way‚ the meaning of 次第 is the same as that of わけ (訳)‚ treated later on. The combination 次第 means “when [some event]‚ [something else]”.
れんたいけい
In this use‚ 次第 follows verbs in 連用形. 場 合 can of course also be used for verb phrases‚ in which case it follows the 連体形:
かね た ばあい ともだち か
お金が足りない場合には友達から借ります。 “In case (I) don’t have enough money‚ (I)’ll borrow it oﬀ (my) friends.

”
. 度 nominalises sentences in 連体形‚ and is followed by に‚ as it marks a time. Be careful when using 時 with present tense 連体形‚ because this will be interpreted as a general “every time …” statement.” Here‚ the clause 星空を見る‚ “looking up at a starry sky” is presented as something that occurs with some frequency‚ and a comment on what is associated to this occurrence is then given.” Here the clause 日本に来た‚ “came to Japan” is modiﬁed with 初めて‚ “for the ﬁrst time”‚ and turned into a speciﬁc time/event using とき‚ after which a comment about this speciﬁc time/event is made.
ほしぞら み よる おも だ
星空を見るたびに、あの夜のことを思い出す。 “Whenever (I) look up at a starry sky‚ (I) remember that (special) night.
とき
6.7 Indicating a speciﬁc time or event‚ using 時
時‚ also often wri en as just とき‚ means “time” on its own‚ which explains why it does what it does.2.6 Describing an occurrence‚ using 度
If you want to describe something that occurs or can occur at times‚ then 度‚ also often wri en as たび‚ lets you say something general about these occurrences.Language pa erns — § 6. This nominaliser can be used either by itself or followed by に or は‚ and follows sentences in 連体形:
はじ にほん き じゅうはっさい
初めて日本に来たときにまだ 十八歳 だった。 “When (I) ﬁrst came to Japan‚ (I) was only 18.2. This is in part obvious because of the meaning of the kanji 度‚ which is typically pronounced ど and meaning “… time”‚ such as 一度‚ “one time” or 三度‚ “three times”.”
たび
6.2 Nominalising “agenda” or “programme” :
ねだん か
287
値段のしだいで買います。 “Due to the pricing programme (being the way it is)‚ I’ll buy it.
く
日本に来る時はどきどきします。 “Every time I come to Japan‚ I get excited.

2. Now‚ this is a genuinely strange word‚ unclassiﬁable using the modern Japanese word classes. In the case of 日本に来る‚ this means the general event “coming to Japan”‚ rather than some speciﬁc instance of having come to Japan. In Japanese these are very diﬀerent concepts‚ and for the second kind of “should”‚ the nominaliser 筈 is used (often also wri en as just はず)‚ marking expectation.8 Stating an expectation‚ using 筈
In English‚ which is the language this book is wri en in‚ there are two interpretations possible for “should”: it can mean “must”‚ such as in “you should clean up your room”‚ and it can mean “expect”‚ such as in “she should be showing up any minute now”.2. It follows 連体形 and noun phrases:
きょう く
今日はみんなが来るはずなんだ。 literally: “It should be that everyone will come today.288
Language pa erns — § 6. It comes from べし (with a 連体形 form べき)‚ an overloaded classical verb with “two” sets of conjugational bases.9 Stating a social expectation or custom‚ using べき
Where はず is used to indicate the expecting “should”‚ べき is used to indicate the somewhat imperative “should”. The only event‚ then‚ that 時 can refer to is the general event of whatever you’re describing. one for べし‚ and one for the derived “verb” べかる‚ which is itself a contracted version of べくあり‚ in which the べく part comes from べし… Basically‚ none of this is important to know in the slightest (unless you’re also taking classical Japanese)‚ as long as you can remember its modern bases:
.2 Nominalising
The reason for this is that 時 needs to refer to some event‚ but there cannot be a speciﬁc event when using present tense‚ as this describes either the present (in which case you would not refer back to it)‚ or the immediate future (in which case‚ the event wouldn’t have even occurred yet).
6.
はず
6.” Here‚ the clause みんなが来る‚ “everyone will come”‚ is turned into the expectancy that everyone will come‚ using はず.” meaning: “Everyone should be coming today.

.Language pa erns — § 6. This word‚ then‚ is actually a remnant of classical Japanese that deﬁes modern word classes‚ so we’re kind of left with exploring it as the need arises. べき is used as a noun‚ with its inﬂections being constructions using the copulae (だ‚ です‚ etc.)‚ but its negative adverbial form can still be formed in the traditional 未然形+ず way‚ giving us べからず.”
Here the clause 真面目に英語を勉強する‚ “to study English seriously”‚ is turned into a social expectation because of the behaviour of whoever it is said to right now.”
Here the clause 責任を取る‚ “to take responsibility”‚ is illustrated as being something that is socially expected from someone in whichever context this phrase was said in. Probably‚ they are gooﬁng oﬀ‚ while a “proper” person would be studying hard in order to meet the social standards. This sentence also shows a special contraction when using べき with する‚ in that it turns into すべき instead of するべき as expected. In this case‚ as the nominaliser べき‚ where it turns phrases in 連体形 into a social expectation:
きみ せきにん と
君が責任を取るべきだったのだ。 “You should have taken responsibility. If‚ on the other hand‚ you’re using it as an a ributive‚ then べき must be used.2 Nominalising
classical べし 未然形 連用形 終止形 連体形 已然形 べから べく べし べき べけれ classical べかり べから べかり × べかる × modern べから べく べし べき not used
289
In modern Japanese‚ this word is so curious that there’s no real way to describe it. Like だ‚ べき has both a 終止形 and a 連体形‚ and this should make it reasonably obvious when to use which: if you’re ending your sentence on it‚ べし must be used. Sometimes this social expectation is a given‚ or common sense‚ but sometimes the expectation is very context dependent‚ such as:
まじめ えいご べんきょう
真面目に英語を 勉強 すべきです。 “(You) should study English seriously. Truly‚ there is nothing simple‚ or ordinary‚ about this word.

こ
Also note the use of 来られる‚ which should be interpreted as a “passive form of bother” here.2 Nominalising
ところ
6.
かれし ともだち こ
彼氏といるところに、友達に来られた。 “Just as (I) was (together) with my boyfriend‚ (I) was imposed upon by a friend. Planning‚ rather than intending‚ is indicated using the noun 予定‚ “plan”‚ instead. While ところ on its own means “place”‚ and can be followed by several particles‚ as a nominaliser it is typically followed by either に or で‚ depending on whether the focus of the sentence has to do with the place or time‚ or with the event that occurs.
つ
6.” This sentence literally says “We will soon be at the point where the ceremony starts”.11 Stating an intention‚ using 積もり
Derived from the verb 積もる‚ “to intend”‚ the nominaliser つもり turns a 連体形 clause into an intention:
きょう わかやま い
今日和歌山まで行くつもりだ。 “(We) intend to go up to Wakayama today.” This sentence literally says “at the point of being with my boyfriend‚ I was …”.10 Indicating a moment in time‚ using 所
This word takes a clause and turns it into a nominalisation representing a point in space time. To indicate a negative intention‚ generally the statement “(I) don’t have the intention to …” is used:
.” In this sentence‚ the clause 和歌山まで行く‚ which translates to “going up to Wakayama”‚ is turned into an intention. For instance:
しき はじ
もうすぐ式が始まるところだ。 “The ceremony will start soon.2.2.290
Language pa erns — § 6. Notice that this nominaliser really only
よてい
states intention.

Language pa erns — § 6. A good way to further illustrate this is by looking at a proper conversation:
いしだ くび
A: 石田さんが首になったそうです。 B: うん、首になった。
いっしょうけんめい い はたら
A: もっと 一生懸命 に 働 いたら… B: いいえ、そう言うわけじゃないけど。 A: ならどうして？
かいしゃ せいさんちょうえい すうにん かいこ
B: 会社が生産 調整 したから数人が解雇された。
.
わけ
6. In English‚ we leave the situation outside our conversations‚ but in Japanese you can use this word to indicate you are directly commenting on the situation at hand‚ commenting on it in an explanatory or reasoning manner. Typically a translation works just ﬁne with 訳 (also often wri en as just わけ) left untranslated‚ but its presence in a Japanese sentence makes quite a diﬀerence in terms of nuance:
ゆうざい
A: まだ有罪にならなかった。 B: まだ有罪になった訳ではない。 A: “(He) has not been proven guilty yet. Aside from this nice reference to how being ﬁred was handled in the old days‚ it also shows how a negative intention is used.” B: “(it’s not as if he)’s been proven guilty yet. The second sentence‚ however‚ states the same but does so in order to counter something that was said or was concluded that might imply the opposite.2 Nominalising
かれ いっしょうけんめいはたら
291
もし彼が 一生懸命 働 くつもりがないなら、くびだ。 “If he has no intention of giving it his all‚ he will be ﬁred.12 Stating a situational explanation‚ using 訳
This nominaliser is somewhat interesting in that it is next to impossible (or often even necessary) to translate‚ because it denotes situational commentary.2.” The ﬁrst sentence states that some “he” hasn’t been proven guilty yet‚ as a factoid.” Literally‚ this sentence reads “Should he have no intention to work hard‚ it’ll be his head”.

The situational aspect that is being commented on is described by と言う as being 語学に能力がない‚ and is commented on by what follows 訳‚ in this case a simple negation‚ followed by an explicit correction of the assumed reason for failing a language course.” A: “Then why?” B: “The company has cut back on production so several people were laid oﬀ.2 Nominalising A: “I heard Ishida got ﬁred.
よう
6. Imagine a situation where someone is being held accountable for low grades on their language courses‚ and they are asked to explain why:
べつ ごがく おも のうりょく べんきょう きほんてき
別に語学に 能力 がないと言う訳ではないが……まあ、基本敵につまらない だと思うから、 勉強 しません。 “(Well‚) It’s not particularly because (I) don’t have the brains to learn languages‚ but …well‚ I just think it’s boring‚ so I don’t study. In fact‚ this use of 言う paired with 訳 is fairly standard‚ and indicates a description of the situational comment.” Here‚ the situational comment is made in regards to a misunderstanding concerning the situation.” Literally‚ よう in this sentence turns 教科書を持ってくる‚ “to bring (along) (one’s) textbook”‚ into a way some action may be performed‚ and then qualiﬁes the
.2.13 Describing a way‚ using 様
We already dealt with よう in the section on comparison and likeness‚ in which we also touched on the subject that it can be used to indicate ways in which things need to be done.” B: “Yeah‚ he did.”
In the fourth line‚ B literally says “no‚ the just-said (そう言う) is not the reason [for the situation we are talking about]”.292
Language pa erns — § 6.” A: “If only he’d worked harder…” B: “No‚ that’s not the reason why. If we were to omit the construction with 訳‚ instead using the negative form of 言う to form そう言わないけど‚ B would instead be saying “However‚ (I) am not saying (that)”‚ something rather diﬀerent. We can nominalise sentences in 連体形 for use as subphrase:
きょうかしょ も い くだ
教科書を持ってくるように言って下さい。 “Please tell (her) to bring (her) textbook.

We also saw that よう can be used adverbially in combination with する to create a construction similar to “try to …”:
じゅぎょう で
授業 に出るようにする。 “To try to make it class.
6.14 Indicating an exact manner‚ using まま
Unlike よう‚ まま actually speciﬁes an exact manner.2.” In this second sentence‚ 決める‚ “to decide”‚ is turned into an exact way of decision‚ and linked to “him”‚ (彼)‚ to create “the way he decides (on something)”‚ 彼 の決めるまま. This in eﬀect creates the phrase “To do in a manner that is like going to class” which is interpreted as “trying to go to class”. Aside from nominalising verb phrases‚よう is also used as manner-conceptualiser when paired with の‚ in the pa ern […]のよう:
でんごん つぎ か
伝言は次のように書いてある。 “The message reads as follows. It follows nouns‚ linked with の‚ or verbal 連体形:
つづ くだ
そのまま続いて下さい。 “Please continue like that.”
い とど かれ き
行くか留まるか彼の決めるままにさせよう。 “(We)’ll let him go or stay as he decides to.” Literally‚ this sentence turns the very short noun phrase 次‚ meaning “next” or “following”‚ into the manner 次のよう‚ meaning “as follows” or “like what follows”‚ and qualiﬁes 書いてある‚ “being wri en (by someone)” as being done in this “following” manner. Note that while 決める is a verb‚ 決めるまま is‚ by the very role of ま ま as nominaliser‚ a noun phrase‚ and thus can be used in a genitive の linking. It takes a clause and speciﬁes that what follows occurs in the exact same fashion.Language pa erns — § 6.
.” In this sentence‚ the act of する‚ doing‚ is likened to the act of 授業に出る‚ to a end class.2 Nominalising
293
act of “saying” as this particular way‚ thus creating the (now somewhat elaborately translated) statement “please tell her in such a way as to eﬀect her bringing along her textbook”.

まね
6.2. This nominaliser takes a clause and links it up to a verb in the pa ern [clause](の)ために[verb]‚ where の is used if the clause is a noun phrase‚ and is omi ed when it’s a verb phrase in 連体形:
そつぎょう いっしょうけんめいべんきょう
卒業 するために 一生懸命 勉強 します。 “(I) give studying (my) all so that (I) will graduate. This usually comes down to ま ね being used in qualitatively negative (meaning it’s the opposite of ‘positive’‚ rather than of ‘aﬃrmative’) statements‚ implications or questions:
. When an observer knows that certain behaviour is not typical‚ or is uncertain about whether it is genuine‚ まね can be used to show they are not sure that what they are observing is sincere.” In this sentence‚ the purpose of する is the noun 愛‚ giving rise to the obvious translation.
ため
6. In pairings between a noun and ため‚ the noun is typically a general concept noun‚ such as in:
あい なん
愛のために何でもする。 “(I) will do anything for love.15 Stating purpose‚ using 為
When stating the purpose of a particular action‚ ため is used.2 Nominalising
Another example‚ this time with a Japanese past tense that maps to an English present progressive‚ is:
ぼうし きょうしつ はい
帽子をかぶったままで 教室 に入るべきじゃない。 “(One) shouldn’t enter the classroom while wearing (their) hat/cap.” The literal (though rather ungrammatical) translation of this sentence would be “in the manner of wearing one’s cap‚ it is not the social thing to enter a classroom”. Another translation would be “in order to graduate‚ I give my all at studying”‚ but the concept of purpose is the same in both translations.” In this sentence‚ the purpose of 勉強する (to study) is 卒業する (to graduate).16 Indicating apparent behaviour‚ using 真似
The noun まね literally means imitation‚ and it is typically used to indicate apparent (and insincere) behaviour.294
Language pa erns — § 6.2.

In Japanese‚ these two diﬀerent interpretations use diﬀerent grammatical pa erns‚ with the ﬁrst being a simple [X]は[Y]です statement‚ and the second using と言う:
うみ にぎ
海は賑やかです。 “The beach is (so) busy.”
うみ にぎ
海と言う、賑やかなものです。 “The beach (in general‚) is (a) busy (place).Language pa erns — § 6.” The diﬀerence in interpretation comes from whatと言う literally means: [X]と 言う translates to “that which we call X”.”
かのじょ な
彼女はいつもいつも泣くまねをして、おかしいだよ。 “It’s just weird (how) she always pretends to be upset (at the smallest things).” Of course‚ it can also be used for blanket questions such as 何のまねだ‚ which literally asks someone to explain their behaviour‚ with the implication that the actions are perceived as not being sincere or genuine.
い
6. In English‚ a sentence such as “The beach is a crowded place” can be interpreted in two diﬀerent ways .17 Talking about a ‘something’‚ using と言う
There is one last nominalising statement we need to look at‚ and that’s the nominaliser that lets us make comments regarding “somethings”.”
.2 Nominalising
おとな まね
295
大人の真似はやめるよ。 “Stop acting like an adult. と言う can be suﬃxed with の‚ のは‚ もの and こと to do the expected things‚ and usually is:
いなか き かれ うみ ひと
田舎から来た彼が、海と言うものを見たこともない人だった。 “He‚ having come from a rural area‚ had never (even) seen anything like (what we call) the beach.the ﬁrst as a speciﬁc statement pertaining to a particular beach‚ the second as a commentary on beaches in general.2. Translations for this can vary wildly‚ due to the fact that it refers to behaviour‚ but typical translations are “What do you think you are doing?” or “What’s going on here?”.

This construction is also quite convenient when you want to ask questions:
にほんご かいわ
A: 日本語で会話をしましょうか。 B: どうもすみませんが、「かいわ」と言うのは、何ですか？ A: “Shall we have a Japanese kaiwa?” B: “I’m terribly sorry‚ but what is a ‘kaiwa’?” This “usingと言う in order to turn a speciﬁc thing into a general statement” is a very common practice in Japanese‚ and you’ll be hearing it a lot‚ which makes this both an important construction to know‚ as well as not that important to learn.
6.3 Social language pa erns
To demonstrate the contrast‚ the sentence without と言うもの means something subtly diﬀerent: 田舎から来た彼が、海を見たこともない人だった。 “He‚ having come from a rural area‚ had never (even) seen the sea. In fact‚ the Japanese language is so interwoven with social levels that the rest of this chapter is devoted to it‚ foucssing on such ma ers as giving and demanding face (a concept akin to showing and demanding social respect)‚ addressing others‚ giving and receiving‚ and steering people’s behaviour through suggestions and recommendations. Social status and respectfulness are important facets of the Japanese culture‚ and thus are reﬂected in the Japanese language.3 Social language pa erns
In addition to language constructions‚ it is also important to know how to talk to other people.1 Showing and demanding face
In Japan‚ and thus when using Japanese‚ you must constantly be aware of what your relation is to speakers and listeners with respect to social position.
6. since you’re going to be continuously exposed to it anyway‚ you’re most likely to learn it through pure conditioning.3. While you might speak informally with your friends‚ if one of your friends shows up as part
.” In the sentence without と 言うもの‚ the crucial “what we call” is missing‚ changing the meaning of 海 from what we generally understand as being called “the beach”‚ to its literal meaning of “sea”. You do not speak to your boss in the same way that you speak to your friends‚ but you will not speak to the visiting boss of a diﬀerent company as you will speak to your own boss.296
Language pa erns — § 6.

The informal out-group consists of people that you have no special relationship with. Speech pa erns such as highly contracted speech‚ plain form and same-level giving or receiving may be used‚ and you may refer to people in this group by a nickname or by their name either without any title suﬃx or with an aﬀectionate suﬃx such as ちゃん or くん.3 Social language pa erns
297
of an ambassadorial delegation‚ you will be required to speak to him as part of the ambassadorial delegation‚ not as your friend — the style of Japanese used heavily depends on which group you are in‚ and whether others are in the same group or not.
The in.
. However‚ for older in-group members‚ simply by virtue of them being older and thus deserving more respect‚ it is customary to show face by using someone’s title (such as for parents or older siblings) or their family name suﬃxed with さん (for friends that have earned a
にい
measure of respect). With these people‚ and in the se ing of that association‚ politeness is the key. Just as you cannot mix “proper speech” with “banter style” speech in most western countries‚ you should not mix speech pa erns when using Japanese. Familiar speech can only be used with people in your familiar in-group. People are referred to‚ directly and indirectly‚ by their family name suﬃxed with さん‚ and people in special positions are referred either by their title‚ or by using their family name suﬃxed with their title. The formal in-group constitutes people who you are associated with through your daily activities‚ work‚ hobbies or through some other means of direct association. People that ask you a question in the street‚ the bus conductor‚ the fast food employee .Language pa erns — § 6.all of these belong to the informal out-group‚ and when talking to them you are expected to use 丁寧語‚ and address them if you must by using their family name suﬃxed with さん‚ or a title if it is apparent that their role deserves one. If you work with several people‚ two of which are good friends of yours‚ then you may use informal speech when talking only to them‚ but when the discussion involves other co-workers‚ the se ing changes to formal in-group‚ and formal polite speech is required.
ていねいご
Speech pa erns in the formal in-group involve 丁寧語‚ polite speech‚ characterised by the use of です/ます form‚ making sure ありがとう is always followed by ござい ます‚ and by using the appropriate name and title suﬃxes. These words also literally mean “in” and “out”‚ respectively‚ and are highly relevant to deciding what levels of politeness and humble or honoriﬁc speech are required in your speech.and out. This group may include family‚ or good friends. This means that a younger sibling might call her brother お兄さ ん‚ using his title‚ but he might in turn refer to her by her given name‚ or given name suﬃxed with ちゃん‚ instead.groups
Whether you’re at home‚ at school‚ at work or at play in your own time‚ there is always the concept of the in-group‚ or うち‚ and the out-group‚ or そと.

298
Language pa erns — § 6. Instead‚ these terms indicate the they have no social value yet. You have been accepted into the workforce formal in-group‚ and have even made some good friends from within that group‚ going drinking on the weekends with them. Finally‚ there is one last group that needs mentioning: the “not relevant in terms of social se ing (yet)” group‚ associated for instance with small children‚ or newcomers to a school‚ job or club.to in-group or from formal to familiar has occurred‚ when the other party does not.
Moving between groups
While these group deﬁnitions sound relatively straightforward‚ transitions from outgroup to in-group‚ or from formal to familiar in-group‚ are much harder to characterise‚ and can lead to considerable problems if one party believes a transition from out. For instance‚ while you may work at a company‚ the company’s vice president will typically not be part of your work in-group‚ and certainly doesn’t fall in the informal out-group. Anyone not in your in-group in a particular se ing‚ who is of identiﬁable higher social status than you‚ is part of the formal out-group‚ and deserves to be spoken to respectfully. This means that you may be addressed using ちゃん
せんぱい
or くん‚ and you will address him or her with their title‚ 先輩‚ while you are being mentored. People in this group may be referred to using aﬀectionate terms such as ちゃん or くん‚ but interpreting these as an indication that they are part of the speaker’s familiar in-group would be a huge mistake to make. Moving people from a group to a more intimate group always requires explicit permission from the person you’re moving — if your mentor never indicated that he or she believed you were now well integrated into the workforce‚ then you could sing high or low‚ work there for six months or six years‚ but until they give no-
. Imagine you have just accepted a job at a Japanese company. He should be spoken to using polite honoriﬁc forms‚ and when speaking about your own actions‚ you should humble yourself by using humble speech pa erns. You know nothing‚ are nothing‚ and your mentor is responsible for shaping you into a proper employee. Now we move the clock forward by half a year. You are assigned a mentor‚ and at ﬁrst the division is clear.3 Social language pa erns
The formal out-group is a complex group‚ because in this se ing the social diﬀerences come into play. To your mentor‚ you will rank as ‘not on the social ladder yet’‚ and to you‚ your mentor will sit in the formal out-group. This does not just mean using 丁寧語‚ but also
そんけいご けんそんご
尊敬語 and 謙遜語‚ the honoriﬁc and humble speech pa erns. You are still working with your mentor‚ but no longer under a mentor/trainee relation‚ but as a co-worker relation‚ and you decide that it is time you start to use their name suﬃxed with さ ん‚ rather than keep calling them 先輩‚ and in doing so you have made a critical and relationship-breaking mistake.

Language pa erns — § 6. Not because the terms are particularly diﬃcult‚ but just because there are actually a great number to choose from. What was natural Japanese one day may suddenly be changed to formal and distant Japanese after your mistake‚ and that’s usually the only clue you’ll get that something went wrong.3 Social language pa erns
299
tice that they consider you worth giving more face‚ they will stay a 先輩‚ and unilaterally deciding that you no longer consider them one means that you are not showing them the right amount of face. When the relation is between someone of higher social status and someone of lower social status‚ the permission has to come from the person of higher social status‚ but in situations where the social status is on equal footing‚ such as with classmates or co-workers‚ it typically involves a period of feeling around for the boundaries of your personal relationship‚ and at some point at least indicating that you do not mind if they refer to you in a way that corresponds to a closer group. This also means that you are responsible for demanding face yourself. Personal pronouns and name suﬃxes play an important role in being able to navigate your way through interpersonal dealings‚ so a brief moment to examine which words can be used‚ and when‚ will go a long way to helping you stay on top of every day Japanese. Instead‚ rather than explaining that they are uncomfortable with you addressing them using the speech pa erns belonging to a more intimate group than they expect to be in‚ their own speech pa ern will become more distal.3.
Demanding face
If things go wrong‚ it would be wonderful if someone would just say that it did‚ but typically this will not happen.making someone lose face‚ or not giving enough face‚ can only be compensated by observing the right levels of formality again until the incident has been forgo en‚ or at least left in the past.
6. You are responsible for behaving properly according to Japanese custom‚ and that means you must take responsibility when it comes to maintaining the social balance. The same goes for making friends in school.2 Addressing people
Certainly one of the things that is more important in Japanese than in a lot of western cultures‚ in terms of social language use‚ is picking the right pronouns and names when addressing people.
. You address people as if they’re part of the informal out-group until they indicate that you may refer to them in a way consistent with the formal or familiar in-group. Not demanding face because you’re just that nice a person doesn’t ﬂy. If someone gets too familiar with you‚ a change from formal polite to distal polite language is the clearest signal you can give that certain boundaries have been crossed. Rather than demand face‚ you will be confronted with the fact that you acted inappropriately by a change in speech pa ern‚ and you would do well to notice it .

While in English‚ for instance‚ one would constantly use the personal pronoun “you” to indicate a listener or reader‚ in Japanese this is considered poor language skills and would be experienced as highly annoying to have to listen to.
First person pronoun .
ぼく
僕 — literally‚ this noun means servant. As mentioned all the way at the beginning of this book‚ Japanese is a sparse language‚ and personal pronouns fall in the category of words that are omi ed once established in a conversation.“I”
わたくし
私 — an overly formal version of “I”. That said‚ sometimes you simply need personal pronouns‚ and for those occasions it serves to know which can be used in which se ing. The important thing to note is that because of the way in which people are normally addressed‚ using personal pronouns carries “extra weight” — all of them mean more than just “I” or “you”.
あたし
私 — a female-only version of the formality-neutral person pronoun
わし
私 — the formality-neutral personal pronoun for “I” or “me” used predominantly by elders. While predominantly used by men‚ it can be used by women too‚ and due to its meaning as noun‚ may actually also be used to mean “you” when addressing servants (although this does make the speaker look down upon whomever 僕 is used for).300
Language pa erns — § 6. This goes for all personal pronouns. Speciﬁc pronouns connote diﬀerences in social levels‚ as well as diﬀerent politeness levels.3 Social language pa erns
Personal pronouns
Some people may tell you that Japanese has no word for “you”‚ based on the fact that the standard way to address someone in Japanese is to use their name‚ paired with a suﬃx to indicate their title‚ rank‚ or social relation to you. Explicitly keeping them in is not just considered bad form‚ it can even be considered an insult‚ as it amounts to indicating that you believe your conversational partner is unable to understand what you mean if you leave them out. after they have been used‚ and while the conversation is focused on the person(s) they indicate‚ they are left out of the conversation. Used predominantly by men‚ this personal pronouns means you humble yourself in respect to the listener. However‚ this would be drawing the wrong conclusion: one avoids using direct personal pronouns as much as possible in Japanese‚ but there are in fact a great number of direct personal pronouns that can be used when the need arises.
.
わたし
私 — the gender-neutral‚ formality-neutral personal pronoun for “I” or “me”. This personal pronoun is typically too formal for any situation you will be in.

Remember from the こそあど section that あなた can also be used as an intimately familiar personal pronoun.
おのれ
己 — another pronoun to avoid.“he/she”
かれ
彼 — while a neutral “he”‚ this word should be avoided simply because it is considered bad practice to use personal pronouns.
きさま
貴様 — something to avoid.3 Social language pa erns
おれ
301
俺 — a boastful ﬁrst person personal pronoun‚ which is used when you are conﬁdent that sounding boastful is accepted. Predominantly used by men‚ this can also be used by go-ge ing women. While 貴 means “precious” or “honor”‚ and 様 is an honourable suﬃx‚ this word has made a half turn from being used as a classical honoriﬁc pronoun to a modern day accusative pronoun‚ and is as close to a curse word as possible without actually being one. You are most likely to hear this pronoun used in samurai drama‚ rather than in every day Japanese. While classically this pronoun meant “you”‚ its meaning has shifted to an accusative pronoun instead‚ similar to 貴様. Because it is very formal‚ it can also be considered impolite outside of very formal se ings.
せっしゃ
拙者 — a classical personal pronoun meaning “I”.
ぬし
お主 — a classical personal pronoun meaning “you”. Because of this‚ it is slightly derogative to the person you’re referring to if you know them by name.
.“you”
きみ
君 — a version of “you” that contains a slight element of looking down on someone.
まえ
お前 — a crass and almost rude way to say “you”
あなた
貴方 — the distal‚ deferred way to say “you”. You are most likely to hear this pronoun used in samurai drama‚ rather than in every day Japanese.Language pa erns — § 6.
Third person pronoun .
Second person pronoun . あんた — the shortened version of あなた‚ this is roughly the same as using お 前. You are technically placing yourself higher on the social ladder when you use it.

There exist “group suﬃxes” in Japanese that can be used with personal pronouns to turn the single person “me” into the group “we”‚ the single person “you” into the group “you [people]” and the single persons “he”/“she” into the group “them”. When using group suﬃxes for 彼 or 彼女‚ it depends entirely on the gender of the ﬁrst person in the group that you refer to.302
かのじょ
Language pa erns — § 6.” This kind of sentence‚ in which someone speaks for an entire group‚ requires the “group representative” personal pronoun 我‚ pronounced either as わ‚ in the patわ われ
tern 我が[…] or as われ in the pa ern 我は[…]. To turn this pronoun into a group
われわれ
pronoun‚ the special word 我々 is used‚ rather than adding the group suﬃxes 達 or 等. Japanese has no explicit plurals‚ so you might think that expressing “we” or “them” might require separate words too‚ but this is not the case. The second‚ which is used with
ら
a few speciﬁc pronouns‚ is ∼等. However‚ the most important thing to remember is that you should try to use personal pronouns as li le as possible. However‚ in addition to being a personal pronoun it can also mean
かれし
“girlfriend” as a regular noun (with the noun version of ‘boyfriend’ being 彼氏). It is important to remember this‚ as some translations for sentences that have plural personal pronouns cannot use these 達/等 markers: “As the commi ee on social aﬀairs we have decided to …. 私達 literally means “the group I am part of”‚ and can refer to either a physical group gathered at some point in time at a speciﬁc location‚ or can refer to someone’s in group. This is an older suﬃx‚ and can be used to turn お 前 (‘you’) into お前等 (plural ‘you’)‚ 彼 (‘he’) into 彼等 (‘them’) and 貴様 (accusative ‘you’) into 貴様等 (plural accusative ‘you’). Instead‚ if you’re referring to someone of whom you know the name‚ use their name suﬃxed with さん‚ or a more speciﬁc
. Similarly‚ 等 is also a group marker‚ where for instance お前等 means “the group you are part of”.
やつ
奴 — A derogatory gender neutral third person pronoun. This pronoun is genわるぐち
erally associated with 悪口‚ literally “speaking evil of someone”‚ meaning talking (derisively) about someone‚ behind their back.3 Social language pa erns 彼女 — when used as personal pronoun‚ has the same connotation as 彼‚ except for girls. There are two in common
たち
use in modern Japanese‚ the ﬁrst of which is ∼達‚ which is used to turn virtually all personal pronouns into personal group pronouns. It should be noted that these markers are not true plural markers. Similarly‚ if a male member of the group was talked about‚ 彼等 will refer to the exact same group. If there’s a group of mixed gender but you were just talking about a female member of the group‚ then the entire group can be referred to using 彼女達.

Also important is to note that people in Japan refer to each other by their family name‚ suﬃxed with the appropriate name suﬃx‚ and not by ﬁrst name until there is a clearly deﬁned friendship.
どの
–殿
A classical honoriﬁc suﬃx‚ that is in use today principally for formal addressing in
さま
writing.Language pa erns — § 6.
Name suﬃxes
There are various name suﬃxes that indicate diﬀerent kinds of social relations‚ and using them out of place can have an eﬀect anywhere from sounding like you’re joking around a bit‚ to simply insulting someone. Like 様‚ 殿 can be used on le ers and cards for indicating the recipient. If you do not know their name‚ ﬁnd out what it is. For this reason‚ it’s a good idea to go over the list of common name suﬃxes‚ and see what they do. The only polite way to refer to people is as people — avoid referring to them as mere objects by using pronouns. Historically this name suﬃx has only been used for men‚ as women did not act as representatives of a house‚ and this gender speciﬁc use has not changed to date. This suﬃx is also used when writing someone’s name as recipient on a le er or card‚ where it can be followed by へ to indicate that this name is to be the recipient of the communiqué.3 Social language pa erns
303
name suﬃx instead.
–さん
This is the standard name suﬃx that is used across Japan to refer to‚ as well as to call the a ention of‚ people to whom you have no particular relationship.
.
さま
–様
An honoriﬁc suﬃx‚ this name suﬃx is used when someone is of considerably higher status‚ used to indicate a master in a master/servant relation‚ or a patron in a patron/proprietor relation.
し
–氏
This name suﬃx is used to indicate that someone is a representative of a speciﬁc house or has a particular lineage‚ similar to the oﬃcial English title “sir” or “distinguished gentleman”.

This practice is fairly obviously reserved for close relationships. It can be used for boys‚ girls‚ men and women alike‚ but only when there is a relation that is close and/or amiable. While still being used for this‚ it has also picked up the added meaning of being a suﬃx used amongst equals who have an amicable relationship. While it can be used for anyone‚ it does deserve mention that it is indeed used for women more than for men.
–ちゃん
While typically associated with li le girls‚ —ちゃん is actually an aﬀectionate suﬃx.
くん
–君
This suﬃx is an amicable suﬃx‚ similar to ちゃん‚ but has a slightly diﬀerent connotation. While ちゃん ﬁnds it origin in young children who cannot say さん yet‚ and thus is readily associated with li le kids and other cute things‚ 君 doesn’t actually come “from” anything‚ but is a word on its own‚ also used to mean “junior”‚ both in the naming sense as well as the social hierarchy system. For instance‚ a doctor is a 先生‚ as is a school teacher‚ a lawyer‚ or an expert on politics.
よ
す
呼び捨て
This is not so much a suﬃx as the complete opposite: the practice of 呼び捨て refers to calling someone by just their name‚ without any suﬃx‚ and the word refers to discarding (捨てる) formalities when calling (呼ぶ) each other.
Nicknames
A ﬁnal‚ drastically diﬀerent‚ approach is to come up with a nickname for someone based on their name‚ a habit‚ some personal feature‚ or whatever random thing you can think of that might make good material for a nickname.304
せんせい
Language pa erns — § 6.
.3 Social language pa erns
–先生
Commonly associated with meaning “teacher”‚ someone who is referred to with 先 生 is not necessarily a teacher by profession. When someone is called upon for their knowledge‚ then in this role they are addressed with 先生.

1 Giving and receiving
Giving‚ or doing something for someone‚ and receiving‚ or taking a liberty (i.e. “you give to her”‚ and 3. What makes things so complicated is that the verb used‚ and its implied meaning‚ can make the diﬀerence between respectful behaviour and rather blatant indirect insults. However‚ while in English “giving” involves just the one verb‚ in Japanese things are not that simple: depending on the social status of the individual parties and who is doing the giving‚ diﬀerent verbs are used. Involving both plain verb forms and て form conjunctions‚ the acts of giving‚ or doing for someone‚ and receiving‚ or taking a liberty or having someone do something‚ cover some of the more complicated verb constructions in the language.
6.e. In the best case‚ this can lead to short lived misunderstandings‚ but more often than not it will result in a suddenly much more distal relationship.
Giving‚ or doing for someone
In Japanese‚ “giving” and “doing … for (someone)” are‚ at least grammatically‚ the same thing.4. conﬁdently using the wrong verb can pre y much declare that you experience your status relative to your partner very diﬀerently from what they thought it was.e.4 Acknowledging social status
The most important way in which to acknowledge social status‚ and diﬀerences in status‚ is through your choice of phrasing when it comes to asking for things‚ or doing things for people. “I give to them”.4 Acknowledging social status
305
6.Language pa erns — § 6. Giving or doing for‚ in this “direction”‚ can be done using three diﬀerent verbs‚ with the choice depending on the social diﬀerence between the giver and the receiver:
. ﬁrst person (“I” or “we”) to second person (“you”)‚ i. second person to third person (“him”‚ “her”‚ “them” or “it”)‚ i. So‚ let us look at the right way‚ as well as the wrong way‚ to handle this culturally grounded practice.e. ﬁrst person to third person‚ i. “I give to you”‚ 2. These are not trivial subjects‚ and the next two sections will explain this in (perhaps excruciating) detail.‚ helping oneself to something) are concepts that seem simple if you’re used to the English way of expressing yourself‚ but in Japanese‚ these seemingly trivial things require quite a bit of explanation‚ as they are dependent on relative social status and the direction of giving or receiving‚ as well as involving a careful choice in particles to use. This comes down to two possible “directions” of giving/doing for‚ the ﬁrst of which is giving ‘away’: 1.

This is one of those interesting cultural pa erns where behaving like a foreigner can cause serious problems: it is customary to kindly refuse any gifts or oﬀers for help‚ so that the giver can insist. 3.)‚ (連用形+て+) やる is used.” The reason that we are of equal status (at the least) is essentially one of politeness. If you accept my gift‚ things go back to normal. Unless you intend to highly oﬀend someone‚ basically anyone capable of normal interaction will‚ for the purpose of being given to‚ be of equal status at the very least. By using this verb‚ and for the duration of the giving‚ I lower my own social status‚ and elevate yours. Now‚ this requires a bit more explaining because when it comes to giving‚ virtually any situation involves giving to “equal or higher status”.306
Language pa erns — § 6. In writing‚ both kanji and kana forms may be used. If we have never met before‚ and I have something to give you‚ then I will describe this giving from me‚ to you‚ using either 連用形+て+上げる (for the giving of an action‚ i. However‚ in typical Japanese style‚ most gifts (even the gift of doing something for someone) between non-familiar people‚ meaning not good friends or family members‚ will at ﬁrst be mock-refused.4 Acknowledging social status
1. Flat out accepting could easily be considered rude‚ and ﬂat out rejecting quite possibly even more so. So with that covered‚ a few examples of giving:
.” ぜんぜん知らない人に何々をして上げました。 “I did something-or-other for a person I don’t know in the slightest. If you are oﬀered tea‚ kindly refuse‚ then accept once oﬀered again. In writing‚ both kanji and kana forms may be used.‚ doing for you) or just 上げる (for the giving of an object):
し ひと なになに
ぜんぜん知らない人に何々を上げました。 “I gave something-or-other to a person I don’t know in the slightest. if the giving is being done to someone or something whose status is irrelevant (very good friends‚ young children‚ pets‚ etc. Only then will a gift or oﬀer for help be accepted. if the giving is being done to someone of equal or higher status‚ (連用形+て+)
あ
上げる is used. 2. Not because the receiver had to be persuaded‚ but because that’s simply the only proper way to go about the issue of giving‚ in Japan. Unless I despise you‚ any event in which I give you something means there is at least a modicum of respect‚ and as such I will indicate this by using the verb 上げる‚ which literally translates to “lift (something)”.e. if the giving is being done to someone of greatly higher status‚ (連用形+て+)
さ あ
差し上げる is used.

Before we move on‚ the previous example sentences may have created a wrong impression concerning who can do the giving when using this verb. However‚ as you are unlikely to ﬁnd yourself in a situation warranting this verb‚ 上げる (for actual gifts) and 連用形+て+上げる (for actions) should be all you need.Language pa erns — § 6. We can be fairly brief about it: you do not use や る‚ except in the rare event where the giving is done to something inherently without
.4 Acknowledging social status
きみこ はな か
307
君子さんにお花を買ってあげました。 “(I) bought ﬂowers for Kimiko. You may have also noticed that in the last sentence‚ 上げる was used on its own: when used alone‚ it strictly means “give”.”
ともだち たんじょうび おもしろ ほん
友達に誕生日ですごく面白い本をあげました。 “(I) gave my friend a really interesting book for (his) birthday. The more formal 差し上げる must be used.” “You gave my friend a really interesting book for his birthday. As mentioned in the section on verb particles in the chapter on basic grammar‚ this kind of prepositional phrase is simply treated as a verb detail in Japanese‚ and as such is marked with に. So that leaves the verb やる. In cases of severe diﬀerence in status‚ such as a maid serving dinner for a household‚ or a clerk handing a CEO a report‚ 上げる is not enough. The variations are quite numerous‚ but usually sentences such as these will be used in a se ing where it is relatively easy to determine which of the multitude of interpretations is the most likely intended one‚ due to contextual information.” etc.”
かあ す
母さんにゴミお捨ててあげました。 “I threw the garbage away for my mother.” “You gave your friend a really interesting book for his birthday.” “We gave our friends really interesting books for their birthdays. When used in 連用形+て+上げる for‚ it typically means “doing … for (someone)”.” “I gave your friends really interesting books for their birthdays. As mentioned‚ this concerns giving from ﬁrst to second‚ second to third‚ and ﬁrst to third person‚ so in fact all the following translations are correct (in the absence of some disambiguating context): 友達に誕生日ですごく面白い本をあげました。 “I gave my friend a really interesting book for his birthday.” You may have noticed that all the parts of these sentences that translate to “for …” have been marked with the particle に.

second person to ﬁrst person‚ i. In writing‚ both kanji and kana forms may be used. This should be relatively obvious in terms of how to use it. if the giving is being done by someone you are on a familiar basis with‚ (連用
く
形+て+) 呉れる is used. So again‚ use with care‚ and if possible‚ simply do not use it. In writing‚ this typically uses the kana form. if the giving is being done by someone of equal or higher status‚ (連用形+て+)
くだ
下さる is used. “you give to me”‚ 3. If a teacher‚ a boss‚ or simply someone you don’t know gives you something‚ or does something for you‚
くだ
連用形+て+下さる is used:
ははおや
母親がプレゼントをくださいました。 “(I) received a gift from (my) mother”
. 2. With so much explanation‚ one would almost forget that this only covered the ﬁrst of the two directions for giving. “they give to them”. “she gives to me”‚ and 4.” But even this is not without danger: if the children in this example sentence were‚ for instance‚ your boss’s children‚ then saying you got them candy using this phrase to your boss would in fact be quite rude‚ as you have just implied his children are without social value. third person to (other) third person‚ i.e. “he gives to you”‚ 2.308 social status:
こども かし
Language pa erns — § 6. However‚ there’s also the opposite direction: 1. やる technically means “do”‚ similar to する‚ but while it is possible to use this verb as alternative to する in a highly informal intimate se ing (with close friends‚ for instance)‚ it’s all too easy to accidentally use it with someone who was not aware you considered them part of the group for which status was irrelevant. So‚ be careful‚ and if at all possible avoid using やる entirely.e.e.4 Acknowledging social status
子供たちにお菓子をやった。 “(I) gave the children some candy. third person to second person‚ i. third person to ﬁrst person or‚ i.e. Giving‚ or doing for‚ in this “direction” can be done using two very diﬀerent verbs‚ the choice of which — again — depends on the social diﬀerence between the giver‚ and the receiver: 1.

” “His teacher showed you something quite good.4 Acknowledging social status
せんせい み
309
先生がいいものを見せてくださいました。 “(My) teacher showed (me) something quite good. When talking to‚ or about‚ friends or even family members‚ this verb does exactly the same as 下さる:
はるか すてき かばん
春香ちゃんが素敵な 鞄 をくれた。 “(I) got (this) wonderful (new) bag from Haruka.” Rather than using に‚ these are normal verb actor phrases‚ so 母さん and 先 生 are simply marked with が‚ or は if we need to disambiguate.” etc.Language pa erns — § 6. To once more show the multitude of possible interpretations in the absence of disambiguating context‚ a list of possible translations for the last phrase: 先生がいいものを見せてくださいました。 “My teacher showed me something quite good.” “Our teacher showed us something quite good.” Regardless of whether we use 下さる or くるれ‚ we can explicitly add in the receiver‚ if that information is required.” Now‚ again‚ the sentences might create the wrong impression that it all centres around third to ﬁrst person. In a familiar se ing‚ rather than 下さる‚ which literally translates as “issuing (something)”‚ such as issuing orders to (lower ranked) troops‚ we can use the verb
く
呉れる.” “Your teachers showed them something quite good. If we wanted to use に (which is possible)‚ then we would have to ﬁrst make the sentence passive‚ so that the tense matches the particle: 先生にいいものを見せられてくださいました。 “(I) was shown something quite good by (my) teacher. In this case‚ we are forced to use に to mark the recipient of the action‚ but do not confuse this for what に does in the presence of a passive verb form:
.”
ともだち ほ か
友達がずっと欲しかったDVDを買ってくれた。 “(I) was bought the DVD (that I) wanted for a long time by (my) friend.

The kanji form is rarely used for this verb. While both apply to receiving from someone of higher or equal social status‚ the diﬀerence in social level determines which verb is used: 1) if the receiving is from someone of equal or higher status‚ (連用形+て+) もらう is used. “you get from her”‚ b) second person to ﬁrst person‚ i. 2) if the receiving is from someone of signiﬁcantly higher status‚ (連 用 形+て+) いただく is used.” Here‚ because it is a passive voice‚ the buying was done by 君子‚ and 春香 is actually the subject of “having been bought for”‚ now being the receiver! Not only the verbs count‚ so do the particles!
Receiving‚ having done for‚ or taking a liberty
もら
Receiving‚ luckily‚ only concerns one “direction” and uses the two verbs 貰う and
いただ いただ
頂 く or 戴 く (the choice of which kanji to use is mostly arbitrary‚ as in this use い ただく and もらう are typically wri en in kana‚ rather than using kanji forms): a) third person to second person‚ i. Literally‚ this phrase means “I (humbly) receive (this food)” or “I will (humbly) help myself to (this food)”. “I get from you”‚ c) third person to ﬁrst person‚ i. Both meanings are essentially simultaneously true‚ which highlights an interesting aspect of “receiving” in Japanese: just as “giving” and “doing for (someone)” are considered essentially the same thing‚ so too “receiving”‚ “having done for” and “helping oneself to (something)” are considered the same thing.e.
. The kanji forms are rarely used for this verb.”
In this sentence‚ because it’s in the active voice‚ 春香 is the verb actor‚ and 君 子 the receiver. “they get from him” Just like the verbs for giving‚ もらう and いただく apply to diﬀerent status levels respectively.4 Acknowledging social status 春香さんが君子さんに素敵な鞄を下さった。 “Haruka gave Kimiko a wonderful (new) bag.e. If we use a passive construction instead‚ we get: 春香さんが君子さんに素敵な鞄を下さられた。 “Haruka was given a wonderful (new) bag by Kimiko.e.e.310
きみこ
Language pa erns — § 6. You may recognise いただく from its polite present tense: いただきます‚ which is used as a set phrase‚ spoken before starting a meal. “I get from them”‚ and d) third person to (other) third person‚ i.

” The interesting fact about these statements is that they can also be interpreted as quite selﬁsh: both 貰う and いただく have an element of prompted action to them. And for gifts we use very diﬀerent verb constructions: おばさんが貸した本を返して下さった。 “(My) Aunt gave me back the book (I) had lent (her).” 父さんに新しい自転車を買ってただきました。 “(I) got my father to buy (me) a new bicycle.” 父さんが新しい自転車を買って下さった。 “My father bought (me) a new bicycle.”
.Language pa erns — § 6. Rather than things being given‚ or acts being performed out of the kindness of people’s hearts‚ we are in some way responsible for them being done for our beneﬁt‚ which is why we can interpret these verbs as expressing taking a liberty‚ too: おばさんに貸した本を返して貰った。 “(I) got (my) aunt to return the book that (I) lent her.” When the activity in question involves direct contact‚ に may also be substituted by から‚ which rather literally means “from”: おばさんから貸した本を返して貰った。 “(I) got back from (my) aunt the book (I) lent (to her).”
とう あたら じてんしゃ か
父さんに 新 しい自転車を買っていただきました。 “(I) got bought a new bicycle by my father.” This may sound odd‚ but think of it this way: if the actions were genuinely unprompted‚ they would have been gifts.4 Acknowledging social status
311
When the verbs もらう and いただく are used on their own‚ then the “receiving” as well as the “helping oneself” interpretation are possible‚ and when used combined with a 連用形+て combination‚ the interpretation is typically “having (something) done for (someone)”:
か ほん かえ もら
おばさんに貸した本を返して貰った。 “(I) got back from (my) aunt the book (I) lent (to her).

”
It should be fairly obvious what’s happening in this exchange: much like how the verbs あげる‚ くださる and くれる can mean “give”‚ もらう and いただく can be used to mean “take”.312
Language pa erns — § 6.4 Acknowledging social status
Another good example of using もらう or いただく for taking a liberty is the following short conversation:
だれ
A: 誰のリンゴですか。
けいこ
B: 恵子さんのよ。 A: そうですか。 (A takes an apple)
いっこ
A: なら、一個もらうわ。
Which translates to:
A: “Whose apples are these?” B: “Oh‚ they’re Keiko’s. Note that the numbers 1‚ 2 and 3 in the images represent “ﬁrst person”‚ “second person” and “third person” respectively:
.” A: “I see…” A: “Well then‚ I’ll just help myself to one.
In summary
To summarise these rather complex pa erns‚ what follows are three images representing the three diﬀerent acts: giving (something)‚ being given (something)‚ and receiving (something).

when giving to someone (or something) without social status‚ we can use やる.4 Acknowledging social status
313
Giving
A schematic representation of verbs involved in giving in Japanese
We see three “areas” in this image:
さ
あ
1. When giving to someone socially much higher‚ we must use 差し上げる‚
2. when giving to someone who is either socially higher or equal‚ we must use
あ
上げる‚ and
3.
.Language pa erns — § 6.

314
Language pa erns — § 6. When being given something by someone who is socially higher‚ we describe
くだ
their giving by using 下さる‚ and
2. when being given something by someone who is socially equal or lower‚ we
く
describe their giving by using 呉れる.4 Acknowledging social status
Being given
A schematic representation of verbs involved in ‘being given’ in Japanese
We see two “areas” in this image:
1.
.

when receiving something from someone who is socially equal or lower‚ we
もら
describe our receiving by using 貰う. When receiving something from someone who is socially higher‚ we describe
いただ いただ
our receiving by using 頂 く or 戴 く (the choice of which to use being essentially arbitrary‚ as いただく is generally wri en in hiragana in this use)‚ and 2.4 Acknowledging social status
315
Receiving
A schematic representation of verbs involved in receiving in Japanese
We see two “areas” in this image: 1. This section will explain how to turn direct speech into indirect speech‚ and for which constructions this is easily done.4. This entails asking indirect questions instead of direct questions‚ making indirect suggestions instead of telling people what they should do according to you‚ and stating assumptions rather than stating truths‚ even if they are truths.
6.2 Indirect speech
One of the important things in using Japanese is to be indirect whenever possible in formal situations.Language pa erns — § 6.
.

Compare the following two statements:
にんき かいさん
あの人気なグループが解散する。 “That popular group will disband.
Negative questions
Asking a negative question is‚ in many languages‚ a way to politely ask someone to do something. In Japanese the same applies:
あそ き
また遊びに来ませんか。 “Won’t (you) come over (for a social visit) again some time?” (In this sentence 遊 ぶ is not used to mean “play” but “to spend time leisurely”‚ hence the implied clause “for a social visit”) A more polite way to ask negative questions is to use the て form with a negative form of 下さい:
ちゃ の くだ
お茶を飲んで下さいませんか。 “Won’t (you) have some tea?”
. For instance‚ “won’t you join us for dinner?” is an English phrase that has the implied meaning “please join us for dinner”‚ rather than the literal “you will not be joining us for dinner‚ will you?”.316
Language pa erns — § 6.” あの人気なグループが解散するそうだ。 “I hear that popular group will disband.4 Acknowledging social status
Expressing hearsay
One way to state something indirectly is by making explicit the fact that you only heard or read something somewhere‚ rather than it being something that you believe or know.” While the ﬁrst sentence implies that the speaker is certain of the stated fact‚ the second sentence states the information more carefully‚ stating that it seems the case that something is a fact‚ based on having heard or read it somewhere. This indirect form of stating something can only be done for second hand information‚ and should never be used to soften a statement that isn’t actually hearsay. As mentioned in the section on comparison and likeness‚ this is done using the noun adjective そう‚ in combination with a clause in 連体形‚ to form a hear-say construction.

”
. Usually it is easier to answer with what you will be doing‚ rather than using yes or no: A: 一緒に行かない？ B: 行きます。 A: “Won’t you go (with me)?” B: “I will.” An even be er solution is to express your answer in the form of a motivation plus answer‚ when a negative question is asked‚ thus making it virtually impossible for your answer to be misinterpreted: A: 一緒に行かない？
ひま
B: まあ‚ 暇だし、行きますよ。 A: “Won’t you go (with me)?” B: “Well‚ (I’m) free (anyway)‚ (so) sure‚ I’ll go (with you).4 Acknowledging social status
317
These negative questions can also be formed with plain negative form‚ but they become more informal that way:
た
ケーキを食べない？ “Won’t you have some (literally: eat) cake?” Giving answers to negative questions can trip up beginning students quite easily‚ as the following example illustrates:
いっしょ い
A: 一緒に行かない？ B: はい。 A: “Won’t you go (with me)?” B: “Yes (I won’t go with you).” The problem lies with the fact that an aﬃrmative answer to a negative question aﬃrms the negative.Language pa erns — § 6.

One of the most common approaches uses a verb in plain past tense‚ paired with 方がいい‚ which creates a construction that essentially says “It might be be er if you […]”.
. What should (I) do?” B: “Well‚ wouldn’t it be sensible (literally: good) to apologise (to her)?” This kind of recommendation is fairly direct‚ and thus some care must be taken in making sure that your relationship to whomever you make a recommendation to allows for this level of directness.” B: “Well‚ it won’t be that big of a deal if you just ﬁx them?” While this is of course still reasonably direct in the sense that you’re imposing your own opinion on someone‚ it is less direct than the previous past tense + 方がい い. For instance:
まちが なお か
A: しまった。間違いばかり書いてた。 B: 直せばいいでしょう。 A: “Oh no‚ I’ve been writing mistakes all over the place.318
Language pa erns — § 6.
Oﬀering your opinion using -ば
A less direct way of recommending something is by oﬀering your own opinion. Using a hypothetical conditional paired with your own opinion on how good or bad this situation would be is a less direct way to suggest a course of action to someone.
お あやま かのじょ きら
A: 遅くれてたから 彼女に嫌われてる。どうしよう。 B: まあ、 謝 った方がいいだろう？ A: “(My) girlfriend is angry with (me) because (I) was late.4 Acknowledging social status
ほう
Recommending‚ using past tense + 方がいい
If we want to make a recommendation‚ there are various direct and indirect ways of doing so.

4 Acknowledging social status
319
Asking about an option using -たらどう
A truly indirect way of making a suggestion is by oﬀering it as an option‚ without actually saying whether you think it’s the right course of action or not‚ eﬀectively leaving the process of deciding whether it’s a good idea or not entirely up to the listener:
べんきょう せんせい わ
A: どれほど 勉強 してもこれが分かりませんよ。
き
B: そうですか。じゃあ、先生に聞いたらどうですか。 A: “No ma er how much I study I don’t seem to understand this. Of course‚ this is an over-
.
こしょう ふる
このコンピュータが故障してるのは、古いからでしょう。 “The reason this computer is broken is (probably) because it’s old (right?).
Pseudo-future suggesting and presuming
As you may remember from the section on the pseudo-future from chapter 3‚ the pseudo-future can be used for three things‚ namely the dubitative‚ cohortative and presumptive‚ and it turns out that these last two are ideal for use in indirect speech‚ as they guess at the world and leave the conclusions or decisions based on these guesses up to the listener‚ instead of imposing your own opinions on them:
きょう すし た い
今日はお寿司を食べに行こうか。 “Shall (we) go (out) for sushi today?” This question leaves the decision up to the listener‚ which is typically a polite thing to do‚ unless of course you’re dealing with someone who is bad at making decisions‚ in which case using indirect speech is arguably not a good idea in the ﬁrst place.Language pa erns — § 6.” B: “Hmm.” In this sentence‚ the speaker assumes that the computer in question is old‚ and leaves the ma er of whether this assumption is correct up to the listener to decide‚ thus not providing potential disinformation to the listener. Well‚ what about asking the teacher?” This is the most polite way of making a suggestion‚ because it only stays at making the suggestion‚ without adding a personal recommendation to it‚ meaning you do not decide what the other person should do.

Double negative statements
In addition to these reasonably obvious suggestions‚ recommendations and opinions‚ we can also let our intentions shine through by using roundabout phrasing‚ thus softening our own convictions‚ opinions and intentions. However‚ the analysis does hold up to scrutiny for a good reason: not presuming to know be er means you’re never forcing anyone into anything‚ which makes you quite civilised. While it uses two negatives to do its job‚ it’s actually used to imply an aﬃrmative action instead.
Complex double negative
Frequently used‚ but certainly confusing the ﬁrst time one sees or hears it‚ is the double negative hypothetical construction 未然形 + なければ + ならない/いけない. In a way‚ this makes sense: “I will not not-drink the coﬀee” has two negatives‚ but the ﬁrst negates the second‚ so the sentence might as well read “I will drink the coﬀee”.” Note that in this use‚ the double negative is set up usingと‚ in its role as ‘quoting’ particle. We see the same happening in the Japanese complex double negative‚ but with an added nuance:
.4 Acknowledging social status
analysis‚ and these forms aren’t actually so much used to prevent disinformation as just used because indirect speech is polite‚ and that’s what you use.320
Language pa erns — § 6.”
ぶちょう やくそく
部長に言わないとは約束しませんよ。 “I won’t promise not to tell your boss.):
い
しないとは言えません。 “(I) cannot say (I) won’t do it. The most common way this is done is by using double negative pa erns‚ as described in the following sections.
Regular double negative
The regular double negative construction is essentially the same as in English‚ relying on the presence of volitional verbs (say‚ do‚ believe‚ promise‚ etc. However‚ there is a more frequently used double negative pa ern in Japanese‚ used in a more subtle way to express an aﬃrmative‚ which deserves special a ention.

The ﬁrst is strictly speaking the short negative form of いく‚ rather than いける. that the negative verb action “should not come to be”. that the negative verb action simply “will not do”.4 Acknowledging social status
べんきょう
321
勉強 しなければなりません。 literally: “It should not become a fact that I am not studying” meaning: “I really should go study.e.”
In this sentence‚ there is the additional hidden information that not merely should the speaker practise‚ but that not practising will have undesirable consequences. ピアノの勉強をしなければいけません。 “I must practise piano. Rather than just needing to practise‚ this practice has to be done to avoid whatever these undesirable consequences may be. Because of the colloquial nature of the shorter forms‚ these are typically paired with the plain negatives ならない and いけない‚ as well as even more colloquial ならん and depending on who you talk to‚ いかん or あかん.”
In this sentence‚ there are no additional connotations: the speaker simply notes that they should practise piano.”
This construction requires some analysis: the construction is formed by inﬂecting a verb in plain negative form‚ 未然形 + ない‚ and turning this into a hypothetical: 未然形 + なけれ + ば. Because they express slightly diﬀerent things‚ the choice of which to use depends on what a speaker wants to express.Language pa erns — § 6. Using 未然形 + なければ + ならない (or polite‚ using なりません) expresses that something “should” be done‚ i. Using 未然形 + なければ + いけない (or polite‚ using いけません) expresses that something “has to” be done‚ i.
. They might need to do so in order to improve‚ or because a recital is coming up‚ but this is left in the middle. the second is a word often associated with the dialects spoken in the Kansai region‚ although it is also used in other parts of Japan.e. This negative hypothetical is then followed by either the negative form of なる‚ “become”‚ or the negative form of いける‚ which is a verb that expresses the ﬁgurative “will do” such as in “Yes‚ that will do nicely”. Colloquially‚ there are shorter versions of なければ‚ namely なけりゃ and な きゃ. As such‚ ならない typically translates to a “need” to do something‚ whereas い けない typically translates to a “must”: ピアノの勉強をしなければなりません。 “I (really) need to practise piano (now).

322

Language pa erns — § 6.5 More advanced grammar

6.5 More advanced grammar
While there are a lot more topics available in the discussion of Japanese grammar‚ a selection had to be made for a book titled an “introduction” to Japanese. This book already covers more than what you would traditionally ﬁnd in an introductory reader on the language‚ and sticking in even more topics would make it a far more complete work‚ but also tremendously more voluminous. As such‚ this is the end of this introduction to Japanese syntax‚ grammar and language. For further grammar‚ I can recommend picking up copies of the Dictionaries of Basic‚ Intermediary and Advanced Japanese Grammar by Seichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui‚ and referring to them whenever you run across interesting grammar use in Japanese material‚ or going on in search of more specialised dictionaries and reference works — there are plenty available! I hope you enjoyed this book‚ and I wish you all the best in your studies!

Appendices

323

Appendix A

Conjugation Schemes
This appendix focuses entirely on the conjugation schemes that have been treated in this book‚ organised in two sections. The ﬁrst lists all the base forms for the various verbals treated in this book‚ the second lists the actual conjugation tables for all these verbals.

A.1 Bases
ぶんご

There are two sets of bases‚ one associated with 文語‚ classical (or literary) Japanese‚
こうご

and one associated with 口語‚ modern (or colloquial) Japanese. These are:

In addition to these bases‚ all verbal words have a stem‚ called the 語幹‚ which is that part of the verbal that does not change during inﬂection. On a functional note‚ the term “dictionary form” used in this chapter (and preceding chapters) refers the modern 連体形‚ which is the form used for listing verbal words in dictionaries. While synonymous‚ the term “dictionary form” will 325

326

Conjugation Schemes

only be used to explain how to form bases. For everything else‚ the proper term 連 体形 is used.
ごだん

The 未然形 for these verbs follows special rules‚ because not all 未然形 forms are used for all inﬂections that require this base. For the classical negation: する uses the せ—未然形 ずる uses the ぜ—未然形

Conjugation Schemes For the (modern) passive and causative:

327

する acts as either an 一段 or a 五段 verb for these forms; せ—未然形 +られる or さ—未然形 + れる to form the passive‚ さ—未然形 + せる to form the causative. ずる acts as a normal 一段 verb‚ using just the じ—未然形‚ forming じられる for the passive and じさせる for the causative. じる also acts as a normal 一段 verb‚ forming じられる for the passive and じさ せる for the causative.
でき

This appendix lists several common Japanese phrases‚ and per phrase gives the grammatical decomposition that can be made given all the material that has been presented in this book‚ with the phrases being ordered according to Japanese custom (starting at あ through お‚ and ending at ん). Its non-literal meaning comes from the fact that the traditional Japanese house has a raised ﬂoor at the entrance‚ where one takes oﬀ one’s shoes and steps up into the house itself.
あり がと ご ざ
有難う御座います — “Thank you”
As mentioned in the adjective section‚ this is an example of classical adjective pronunciation‚ and is actually a long chain of conjugations:
がた
ある in 連用形 + 難い in classical pronunciation + ござる in 連用形 + ます ↓ あり + がとう + ござい + ます ↓ ありがとうございます
339
.Appendix B
Set phrases
Every language has its set phrases for things like thanking people‚ or excusing yourself‚ or phrases that are used idiomatically‚ meaning something other than what the words would literally imply‚ such as telling someone to “take a chair” or “make themselves at home”.
あ くだ
上がって下さい — “Please come in”
Coming from the verb 上がる (あがる)‚ this sentence literally says “please be raised”.

. There are various ways to use this sentence‚ the most indebting being どうも ありがとうございます‚ which adds the word どうも to the phrase‚ meaning “in all possible ways”‚ coming from the question pronoun どう (how‚ in what way) and the generalising pronoun suﬃx も. Just ありがとう‚ however‚ is not polite. This expression can either be used in present‚ or future‚ tense (ありがとうござ います) or it can be used in past tense (ありがとうございました)‚ with the diﬀerence lying in when the thanking is being done: if it is after the fact‚ ありがとうございま した will be used‚ and if it’s either prior to‚ or during whatever we’re being thankful for‚ ありがとうございます is used. It’s technically the short potential form of 行く‚ 行ける‚ and literally means “this cannot go”.
いいえ — Disagreement
The Japanese version of “no”.340
Set Phrases
This literally means “this is a diﬃcult thing to accept”‚ stemming from the concept of becoming indebted to someone who helps you. Alternatives to いいえ are the more colloquial ううん‚ and the more emphatic いや. Used in this way‚ it is typically wri en in hiragana only.
いただきます — Said when one is about to eat
This statement literally means “I will accept [this]”‚ in the receiving meaning of accept‚ and is used when one is about to eat in the company of others. As becoming (further) indebted to someone is always a hard thing to accept‚ this phrase is used instead of a separate word for thanking. It comes down to saying “thanks”‚ and pays improper respect to people who do something for you and are of higher social status. Still formal indebting is ありがとうございます. Always use ありがとうございます. Never just say ありがとう to your teacher for instance.
いけない — “Oh no”‚ “this won’t do”
This word is often used to express that something will not do‚ is about to be done wrong‚ or is at this very moment going wrong. This is similar to‚ for instance‚ the Christian practice of giving thanks for the food about to be received‚ but without the religious aspect. When one is done eating‚ one uses ごちそうさまでした to indicate that one is done.

い き
Literally this is the honoriﬁc version of the command 行って来て‚ “go and come back”‚ where the speaker tells the listener to go on their business and come back afterwards. This phrase is technically the honoriﬁc commanding form of 帰る‚ “to return [to some base]”: お + 帰る in 連用形 + なさる in 命令形 ↓ お + 帰り + なさい ↓ お帰りなさい
.
いらっしゃいませ — “Be welcome”
This is literally the commanding form of the honoriﬁc verb いらっしゃる‚ and is used by tenants to welcome their customers into their place of business. The ﬁrst い in the いらっしゃい part of いってらっしゃい is typically omi ed after a て form‚ similar to how the い in いる is typically omi ed when used with the て form. The standard reply‚ if warranted‚ is いってらっしゃい.
かえ
お帰りなさい — “Welcome back”
This phrase is the typical response to ただいま‚ and welcomes someone back home‚ or back to a place that can be considered a base of departure‚ such as your oﬃce‚ when you went out for a power meeting with management and have returned unscathed. This phrase is said to people who are leaving a place where they are expected to return‚ such as their house‚ typically in response to 行ってきます. It doesn’t technically mean “be welcome”‚ but that’s what it has come to be considered to mean. The most obvious example is when one goes oﬀ for one’s job or school in the morning‚ when it is used to say goodbye to whoever is still in the house.Set Phrases
い き
341
行って来ます — “I will go and come back”
This is said when one leaves a place that one expects to come back to.
いって(い)らっしゃい — Said when someone who will return‚ leaves.

Literally‚ saying お蔭様で means “due to your being like a shadow for me”‚ and can be interpreted as “because of [your] contributing actions‚ [I am where I am now‚ at this moment]”.
げんき
お元気で — “Get be er”‚ “stay well”
This phrase can be considered the statement お元気でいて‚ “be well”‚ with the いて left oﬀ. Asking these people whether they are 元気 is a bit like driving home the point that they aren’t happy with a big pointy stick‚ so instead the phrase 元気な いみたいですね is typically used‚ carefully remarking that they “do not seem very 元 気”. This is something you do not ask someone every day‚ but only when you haven’t seen someone in a while‚ or when there is a reason to ask them‚ such as when someone has just recovered from an illness. It is used as a general parting phrase with people who you will not be seeing the very next day‚ such as when seeing an incidental friend oﬀ‚ as well as a parting phrase for people who can use well-wishing‚ such as friends who seem a bit down.
. 元気のない人‚ people who are not 元気‚ are typically depressed‚ gloomy‚ glum‚ down and out‚ and for all intents and purposes a mood killer for everyone around them. お元気ですか literally asks “are you 元気”‚ which means that it asks whether someone is feeling good about things in general.342
かげさま
Set Phrases
お蔭様で — “Thanks to you”
This phrase is a typical reply to the question お元気ですか (“how do you do?”)‚ in which case it is usually preceded by an aﬃrmative such as はい.
げんき
お元気ですか — “How are you?”
This is a terribly misused phrase by people who start to take an interest in Japanese‚ who mistaken it for “hello”. In this last case‚ the question may also be of the form もう元気ですか‚ meaning “are you 元気 again (already)?”. Traditionally‚ a 陰 — meaning “shadow” or “shadow ﬁgure” — is used to mean someone who acts as the unseen driving force behind other people. It is also used frequently in situations where someone receives praise from someone who contributed to whatever the praise is for.

せわ
お世話になります — To be taken care of
Pairing 世話 with the verb なる‚ “become”‚ the combination 世話になる means “to be taken care of by someone” in the positive sense. This can be met with two responses‚ namely either a set phrase such as
つか さま くろさま
お疲れ様でした or ご苦労様でした‚ or with surprise at the act of leaving early for no clear reason. This phrase is used‚ for instance‚ when picking up the tab for someone (this will naturally be paired with some refusal by the treatee‚ and insistence on the part of the treater‚ but this is part of the Japanese process of doing things for people). Because this phrase literally means “I’ll be intruding”‚ it can also be used when one really is intruding‚ such as breaking up an intimate conversation because you need to talk to one of the conversationalists‚ or when barging in on people. Paired with する‚ the combination 世話(を)する means “to give care to someone” in the positive sense‚ and is generally understood as meaning you will be treating someone to something. For instance‚ when someone is oﬀering to do something for you like pay the bill after dinner‚ or take care of you when you’re sick and you wish to oblige them‚ you use the phrase お世話になります to indicate that you will be taken care of in some way by them.
.
じゃま
お邪魔します — Entering someone’s house
The noun 邪魔 means obstruction or interference‚ and this sentence is a particularly good example of Japanese formality: this phrase is used when one is invited into a house. Courtesy demands that you indicate that even though you have been invited‚ you will intrude upon their home life by accepting this invitation and entering their house.
せわ
お世話します — Treating someone
世話 means caring‚ in the giveable caring kind of way.Set Phrases
さき
343
お先に — Said when leaving early
Said when leaving earlier than you normally would (namely when everyone else
い
leaves)‚ お先に literally says “before [you/everyone else]” and is short for お先に行っ てきます.

When someone is told お大事にし
くだ
て下さい‚ they are told to “please act in a way so that they are treating themselves as something valuable”.
ねが
お願いします — “Please”
Literally this phrase reads “(I) wish it”‚ but is commonly interpreted as meaning “please” in the context of prompting someone to do something for you. This statement is used when someone has performed a tiring job‚ or when one goes home after a day of working. Variations on this theme are the plain past tense instead of formal past tense お腹が空いた or
はら へ
with the subject marker omi ed‚ お腹すいた. Colloquial versions are 腹が減った (note the diﬀerent pronunciation for 腹) or simply 腹減った. For instance‚ when saying goodbye to someone who you will not see in a while‚ you typically wish them お大事に so that you may meet them again in good health at some point in the future.344
だいじ
Set Phrases
お大事に(して) — “Take care”
大事 is a “valuable thing”‚ in the ﬁgurative sense. This full sentence is often shortened to just お大事に. It comes from the verb 願う‚ to wish: お + 願う in 連用形 + する in 連用形 + ます ↓ お + 願い + します ↓ お願いします
.
なか す
お腹が空きました — Being hungry
One states that one is hungry by saying their stomach has become empty.
つか さま
お疲れ様(です/でした) — “You’ve worked hard”
お疲れ様 literally means “the appearance of tiredness”‚ and comes from the noun form of the verb 疲れる‚ “to tire”‚ preﬁxed with the honoriﬁc お and suﬃxed with
さま
the more classical likeness suﬃx 様.

ひさ ぶ
お久し振りです — “It’s been a long time”
This phrase is actually grammatically quite interesting as it consists of a noun compound formed of the verbal adjective 久しい‚ “long (timed)” and the verb 振る‚ “to end/give up”‚ which as compound is turned into a noun and preﬁxed with the honoriﬁc particle お‚ covering all the major word groups (verb‚ adjective‚ noun and particle) in a single term: お + 久しい as 語幹 + 振る in 連用形 (suﬀering from a voiced pronunciation as compound) + です ↓ お + 久し + ぶり + です ↓ お久し振りです This phrase is used when a silence between two people is broken after some time‚ be this in writing‚ by virtue of a phone call‚ or by actually seeing someone in person again. Literally‚ this is the statement 早いです‚ only in humble classical form: 早い in classical form + 連用形 of ござる + ます ↓ おはよう + ござい + ます ↓ お早うございます This statement basically aﬃrms that some meeting is reasonably early for when it occurs. For school goers‚ 8:30 am could be early.Set Phrases
はよ
345
お早うございます — “Good morning”
This phrase doesn’t actually contain the word “morning” in any way‚ which explains why it’s possible to use this phrase at later points in the day. It all depends on when your daily routine day starts. for bookmakers‚ 1 p.
おめでとうございます — Congratulations
Literally this phrase is a combination of めでたい (meaning auspicious) in classical form paired with ござる:
.m. could be early.

”
そつぎょう
卒業 しておめでとうございます。 “Congratulations on graduating.” et cetera‚ et cetera.346 お + めでたい in classical form + ござる in 連用形 + ます ↓ お + めでとう + ございます ↓ おめでとうございます
Set Phrases
This phrase can be used with a million and one words to congratulate on any number of things‚ usually following the て form of descriptions of what the congratulations are oﬀered for:
けっこん
結婚しておめでとうございます。 “Congratulations on ge ing married. お + 休む in 連用形 + なさる in 命令形 ↓ お + 休み + なさい ↓ お休みなさい
き
つ
くだ
気を付けて(下さい) — “Take care”‚ “Be careful”
Literally‚ this phrase instructs someone to apply 気‚ in this case best translated as “vigilance”‚ to whatever it is they are‚ or will be‚ doing. It is technically the honoriﬁc commanding form of 休む‚ to rest‚ and is used to wish everyone else a good night too. It is used when you wish
.”
たんじょうび
誕生日おめでとうございます。 “Congratulations on your birthday.
やす
お休みなさい — “Good night”
This phrase is said when one goes to bed‚ and is repeated by those who wish you a good night.

めんくだ
ご免下さい — “Please excuse me”
This phrase is used in two common se ings. Colloquially the 様 in ご苦労様 can be replaced with さん‚ to create the more relaxed sounding ご 苦労さん. Literally‚ 免 means dismissal‚ and this phrase asks for the listener to please dismiss your behaviour as it is intrinsically rude.
くろうさま
ご苦労様(です/でした) — “Job well done”
Literally‚ this phrase doesn’t say “well done” at all‚ but actually translates to “it would appear that you have exerted considerable eﬀort”‚ 苦労 (くろう)‚ with the fact that this was actually “good” eﬀort only being implied by the fact that you’re not being told you’ve done a bad job instead. Literally
ちそう
this phrase means “it was a feast”‚ stemming from the noun 馳走 which means banquet and all the things a banquet entails such as good food and decent entertainment‚
さま
and the likeness suﬃx 様.
さき
This phrase is also used as a reply to お先に‚ when used by someone for whom it’s okay to leave work before others do (even if only by a few minutes).
ちそうさま
ご馳走様(でした) — Said when one is done eating
This expression has no usable translation because it’s a customary saying. The ﬁrst is when hanging up on a phone conversation when you are the one hanging up‚ and the second is when you’re entering a place which you know is someone else’s‚ but you don’t see anyone around.
. This phrase can be used whenever someone has ﬁnished doing a tough job‚ or has had a rough day. This phrase is the counterpart to the customary saying いただきます‚ said prior to consuming anything in the company of others.Set Phrases
347
someone to be careful‚ such as when they are about to do something potentially dangerous — whether it’s rewiring a wall socket‚ or heading out in a storm at midnight without a torch — or when they’re going to be in an environment that may be hazardous in some way — be it starting a school term at a new school‚ or going oﬀ to do your job as a ﬁreman.

”
こんにち
今日は — “Good day”
This is the particle は (pronounced わ)‚ added to the noun 今日 meaning “day” (pronounced こんにち instead of きょう).348
めん
Set Phrases
ご免なさい — “Please forgive me”
This construction is more oriented towards asking for forgiveness rather than just being excused. There is a very explicit connotation that it will be a considerable time until the speaker will see again the person they’re seeing oﬀ‚ if ever.
こんばん
今晩は — “Good evening”
Like こんにちは‚ this is just は added to 今晩‚ “this evening”.
さようなら — “Farewell”
さよう
Realise the full meaning of this word before you use it: さようなら is short for 左様な
いとま もう
らばお 暇 を申します‚ which is old Japanese for “Things being as they are‚ I shall speak my farewells”. It’s technically an unﬁnished phrase just raising the topic of “today” and then saying absolutely nothing in regards to it‚ but this has become the standard way to say “good day” in Japanese. The modern version‚ too‚ really does mean “farewell” and not just a plain “good bye”. When being speciﬁc about what you are asking forgiveness for‚ ごめんなさ い follows the description in て form:
た
ケーキを食べて、ごめんなさい。 “I’m sorry for eating (your) cake. This phrase is also used to turn down important oﬀers‚ where the act of turning down the oﬀer may lead to problems for the other party (such as when someone is depending on you‚ or when someone confesses their love for you).
. When you have done something wrong‚ and you know you did‚ apologise with ごめんなさい.

Variations on this theme involve omi ing が‚ 仕方
いた
ない‚ or replacing し方 with the more humble 致し方‚ and ない with the more polite ありません‚ leading to statements such as 致し方がありません. When one has to excuse oneself from somewhere‚ for instance‚ when one is talking to a superior and is called away for some reason‚ or one has to go before the conversation is truly over‚ this expression is used (in combination with the appropriate level of bowing) to indicate that one is aware that one’s actions will be somewhat rude. Because of all this dropping of terms‚ there are several statements that can be used which all mean the same thing‚ but varying in level of formality:
. The じゃあ comes from では‚ which in turn is short for それでは meaning “with this” or “by this” as context.
じゃあ、また — “See you again (later)”
This phrase is an unﬁnished phrase that literally means “well then‚ again [some other time]”‚ and is used as an informal goodbye when you expect to see each other again soon.
しつれい
失礼しました — “I have commi ed a rudeness”
This is used as an excuse after the facts‚ when admi ing that one has commi ed a rudeness. 仕方 is a conceptual noun for a “something that can be done”‚ and is an example of kanji being applied to a reading instead of the other way around: this is actually the “way of doing” construction for する‚ し方‚ where し has been given the kanji 仕‚ meaning doing/service.Set Phrases
しかた
349
仕方がない — “There is nothing (…) can do about it”
This phrase is quite often (and to the horror of many a translator) translated literally as “there is no helping it”. Now‚ the number of times you will hear that phrase used in English is probably a very small number indeed‚ and as such this phrase is much be er translated with “there’s nothing [I/he/she/we] can do about it”.
しつれい
失礼します — “Excuse me”
失礼 literally means “a rudeness”‚ and 失礼する means to commit a rudeness. また (又) means “again”‚ and so the whole sentence can be unwrapped to それでは、また[…]‚ where the ﬁnal part of the sentence can be
あした あと
things like 明日‚ “tomorrow”‚ 後で‚ “later”‚ and so forth.

350
Set Phrases
それでは、また後で。 では、また後で。 では、また。 じゃあ、また。 じゃ、また。 またね。
formal polite formal polite casual polite informal informal very informal
す
済みません — “Thank you”‚ “Excuse me”
A prime example that Japanese conceptualises certain things diﬀerently‚ すみません can actually mean “thank you” and “excuse me” at the same time when used. Variations on the theme include the more colloquial すいません and very informal すまない and すまん. While meaning a simple “excuse me” if used when (for instance) bumping into someone in the street‚ it is also used when someone does something for you that will indebt you to them‚ such as catching your hat and handing it back if the wind catches it‚ or ﬁxing some typos in an email you had wri en. Using すみません in these instances means both “thank you for doing this for me” as well as “I’m sorry to have caused you to do this for me” at the same time. Much like how half the time when a Japanese person says はい‚ they won’t mean “yes” but are only indicating they’re listening‚ そうですか is used to acknowledge that the speaker is still being listened to just as much as it’s used to genuinely ask “is that so?”.
す
This is technically the polite negative of 済む‚ “to end”‚ indicating that the debt between the two parties involved remains unse led.
てつだ
手伝ってすみません。 “Thank you for helping out‚ and sorry for somehow having made you do so. Only the context of the conversation is an indicator whether it’s just a polite way to show that someone is still being listened to‚ or whether the listener is genuinely wondering about something said.
.”
そうですか — “Is that so?”‚ “Really”‚ “I see”‚ “Aha”
This is a typical phrase that doesn’t mean what it seems to mean‚ even if half the time it does. When being speciﬁc about what you are thanking apologetically for‚ すみま せん follows the description in て form.

たの
頼む — “Please”
This is just the verb 頼む‚ “to leave in someone’s care”‚ but is frequently used as an expression both when oﬄoading something to someone else (which can be considered
.” Here‚ B is ﬁrst merely acknowledging that they heard the question‚ possibly even indicating that they think it’s a good question‚ and the real answer comes after そうですね.
いま
Lastly‚ ただいま can also be used as a formal version of just 今‚ meaning “now”. Misinterpreting it can lead to quite a bit of confusion:
お
A: もう終わってますか。 B: そうですね。まだ終わってません。 A: “Have you ﬁnished yet?” B: “Ah‚ yes… not yet. This use is typical in se ings where someone is commanded to do something‚ such as in a master/servant relationship.
ただいま — “I’m back”‚ “Right away”
There are three meanings to this phrase‚ although typically you will only be familiar with the ﬁrst: when returning from something that one had to leave for (at which point an いってきます would have been used)‚ this phrase is used to signal the return.
かえ
It is usually met with お帰りなさい‚ an idiomatic expression translating to “welcome back”. When given an order to perform some task‚ using ただいま as response idiomatically translates to “right away”. It may also be used to indicate that the speaker has heard what has just been said and will respond to it‚ similar to はい. In this meaning‚ you may also ﬁnd it used a lot in the expression ただいまよ り[…]‚ in which より is used in its classical (literary) meaning‚ being the same as the modern particle から‚ with the expression translating to “starting now”‚ “as of now” or “from this moment on”.Set Phrases
351
そうですね — Showing agreement
This phrase is often used when someone wants to emphatically agree in a conversation. The second meaning is quite diﬀerent.

どうした is a short question to enquire what happened when someone seems upset‚ taken aback‚ or give oﬀ the impression that something happened that is unusual.
どうぞ — Urging someone‚ “If it pleases you‚ …”
One of the power words in Japanese social language‚ どうぞ is used whenever you wish to politely urge someone to do something. However‚ it is interpreted to mean “what happened?”‚ instead. A more formal way to ask this‚ though also more eﬀeminate‚ is どうかしましたか. Using justどうし て is technically an incomplete sentence‚ and implies that it should be ﬁnished with whatever verb best describes the situation that is being questioned.352
Set Phrases
quite rude)‚ to mean “please do this for me”‚ or when someone oﬀers to do something for you and is giving oﬀ all the signals that they’re being serious instead of being polite‚ as an implicit “thank you”.
どうした — “What happened?”
Being a combination of the pronoun どう‚ “how” or “in what way”‚ and the past tense of する‚ this literally asks “by what way did […] happen?”.“Don’t mention it”‚ “you’re welcome”
This phrase is used in response to an expression of gratitude. For instance‚ if
てつだ
someone refuses to help‚ the full sentence could be どうして手伝わないんですか‚ “why won’t you help?”‚ but just saying どうして is enough to act as question. For instance‚ if one has just served tea to guests and wishes to urge the guests to start drinking‚ a どうぞ combined with
.
いた
どう致しまして . Grammatically speaking this construction is the humble version of どうして‚ but idiomatically these two expressions mean wildly diﬀerent things‚ with どういた しまして being used to acknowledge or waive gratitude‚ and どうして being used to enquire the “why” of something. Similar to how in English one might be polite by responding to “Thank you very much” with “you’re welcome” or “it was my pleasure”‚ this phrase acts as both an acknowledgement of the gratitude‚ as well as an indicator that the gratitude should not be experienced to the degree that the person doing the thanking is expressing (similar to how in English one might go “no‚ no‚ it was nothing”).
どうして(ですか) — “Why?”‚ “How come?”
This is the combination ofどう‚ “how”‚ and the verb する in て form.

For instance‚ the earlier entry 上がって(くだ さい) could be made more polite by turning it into どうぞ上がって(ください). The Japanese statement doesn’t actually mean “pleased to meet you” at all‚ but relies on knowing what よろしく means.“If it pleases [you]‚ [allow me to let you do whatever I wanted to do] before [I do so‚ too]”.Set Phrases
353
a sweeping hand gesture at the cups will convey the message that they should start drinking. Being the most direct‚ it’s also quite rude‚ and there is
. The short form‚ just よろしく‚ can be used in a broader se ing to indicate you will leave something to someone under the assumption that all will be well‚ and is
たの
similar to 頼む in this use. It’s only used once‚ when you ﬁrst meet someone in a se ing where you will work together in some capacity‚ and is more accurately described as saying “please treat me well in our future dealings”. Being a noun derived from よろしい‚ “agreeable/acceptable”‚ this statement literally says that the speaker hopes that everything that is the result of this meeting is of a good nature.
ねが
The more formal version is どうぞよりしくお願いします‚ which adds the verb for “wishing” to the statement‚ thus expressing a sincere wish to be treated favourably in the future.
なぜ(ですか) — “Why?”
This is the most direct version of “why”‚ and is a pure interrogative. This word can frequently be heard in combination with urging requests‚ formあ
ing a more polite version of the request. Of the many ways in which this can be expressed‚ probably the most common way is le ing other people do something before you get a chance to do them‚ such as opening a door for someone else to pass through ﬁrst‚ or le ing someone else queue up before you queue up.
どうぞよろしく — “Pleased to meet you”
“Pleased to meet you” is actually the “best cultural approximation” translation. it’s short‚ and literally means “what reason”.
さき
どうぞお先に — “After you”
A common form of politeness in Japan (although arguably in any culture) is to repress your own feelings and desires so that others might beneﬁt. The phrase combines どうぞ with 先に (“before”) in honorary form‚ translating to -.if we’re translating the intention of the expression rather than the literal words -.

354
Set Phrases
no polite way to use this word‚ so it’s best to try and avoid using it at all.
はい — Acknowledgement
While generally understood to mean “yes”‚ はい actually signiﬁes acknowledgement in general — it can be used as an acknowledging response to questions‚ in which case it means the same as “yes”‚ but it can also be used to indicate that some speaker is still being listened to. Because it is technically a noun‚ it can be used in a softer form using です‚ but even then this is still considered more direct than asking the other two versions of “why” with です:
なん
何でですか or どうしてですか.
. Like そうですね‚ this may lead to situations where はい can be interpreted as either:
わ
A: じゃあ、分かってますね。 B: はい。分かりません。 A: “So‚ (you) know (what this means)‚ (don’t you).” B: [acknowledges the question] “No. It is indirect in that it literally asks “by which means [do you reason this way]?” or “by which means [did this situation arise]?”‚ but is more direct because it’s shorter than どうして and thus sounds more curt.” Alternatives to はい are the more colloquial うん and the more explicitly acknowledging そう.
のど
かわ
喉が渇いています — Being thirsty
When one is thirsty in Japan‚ one doesn’t say “I am thirsty” but instead uses the less direct statement “my throat is dry”‚ similar to how one could say “I am a bit parched” in English rather than saying “I’m a bit thirsty”.
なん
何で(ですか) — “Why?”
This particular version of “why” is considered more direct than どうして‚ but less direct than なぜ.

Regardless of whether it’s true (it’s not‚ もしもし comes from 申し申し‚
もう
from the humble verb 申す)‚ it makes for a nice story to tell people when they get
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もう わけ
申し訳ありません — Extreme apology
Literally this phrase reads “[this is] not [a situation in which] saying [something] [is appropriate]”. Grammatically decomposing the phrase‚ we see: 申す in 連用形 + meaning/reason nominaliser 訳 + formal polite negation of ある 申し + 訳 + ありません Variations on this theme involve more‚ or less‚ formal versions of the verbs
い
“to say” and “be”‚ such as 申し訳ない‚ 言い訳ない‚ 申し訳ございません‚ etc. Like being hungry or thirsty‚ being upset‚ too‚ is typically indicated by describing the physical feeling. Literally‚ this sentence reads “[through our meeting‚ something] starts …”‚ which is why it is only used once in your life per person that you meet.
もしもし — Said when picking up the phone
The story goes that this word was used because demons cannot pronounce it‚ and it would allow people to tell whether a real person had picked up the phone on the
もう もう
other end. In a se ing where there will be a lasting cooperation between you and whoever you say this to‚ the conversation will typically steer towards どうぞよろしく
ねが
or よろしくお願いします‚ depending on the whether you will be potentially relying on the other person a lot.Set Phrases
はじ
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始めまして — A formal greeting used when meeting someone for the ﬁrst time
Like どうして‚ this is technically an unﬁnished sentence‚ being the polite て form of 始める‚ “to start (something)”.
はら た
腹が立つ — Ge ing upset
This phrase literally means “to raise [my] stomach”‚ and is used to indicate something causes genuine upset or upset anger. Eﬀectively it means “I have no excuse [for what I have done]” and makes it clear that the speaker is genuinely at fault for something.

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Set Phrases
curious about the phrase that the Japanese use when they pick up the phone‚ or when it appears the signal has dropped during a conversation. This phrase is also used to call someone’s a ention when they seem to be lost staring into the distance‚ similar to how one might yell “helloooo?” to someone who seems to have started day dreaming‚ in English.
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Adverb Words that are used to describe the way in which a verb action or state is in eﬀect.Glossary
Abstraction A generalisation‚ either through simpliﬁcation(s) or by omission(s) of some (or more) part(s). Accusative In this book‚ ‘accusative’ is used in the natural language meaning‚ not the grammatical meaning‚ representing a construction that accuses someone of something. Active The verb form that describes actions taking place in the world‚ as performed by someone or something. Accents are typically in the form of a noticeably diﬀerent pitch level or gradient for the syllable(s) in question than for the rest of the word. Similarly‚ the concept of “walking” is an abstraction of the concerted eﬀort of all the muscles moving in the human body to eﬀect that body walking on two legs (an abstraction by omission‚ because for “walking”‚ all the unrelated information of muscles working‚ the brain balancing the body‚ the eyes determining the direction of travel‚ etc. 357
. is irrelevant)‚ and the Japanese kana are abstractions of Chinese characters (either by simpliﬁcation in the case of hiragana‚ or omission in the case of katakana). Contrast to “negative”. For instance “I throw the ball” describes an activity performed by me. Aﬃrmative A word or part of phrase that states (“asserts”) something is the case. For instance‚ the concept of “friendship” is an abstraction from all the individual instances of people being friends (an abstraction by generalisation). For instance‚ “To walk quickly” has the adverb “quickly” describing the way in which “walking” is performed. Accent Accent in speech is that part of a word that seems to jump out at the listener‚ placing more focus on one or more syllables than on the rest of the word. The grammatical “accusative” form refers to the role of a direct object to a word that can take such direct objects (which typically means verbs). Contrast to “passive”. For instance‚ the word “a ention” has its accent on “ten” in English‚ while the accent lies on “on” in French.

Commanding A word form or construction that commands the listener or reader to perform some action. Clause A group of words that contain a subject and a predicate‚ but do not form a full sentence. Comparative A word form or form of phrase that compares one or more things to each other in some way. Article A particular kind of word that references particular objects. Colloquial Spoken conversation‚ usually used to mean the informal spoken version of a language‚ as contrasted to formal language. For instance‚ in the English phrase “I can do this”‚ the verb “can” is an auxiliary verb‚ combining with “do” to form a potential form‚ rather than a plain predicative form.”. Contrast to “prohibiting”. In English‚ cohortatives are typically statements such as “shall we ..?” or “let’s . Contrast to “inanimate”. Binary Anything in which only two choices can be made‚ such as binary signals (high and low)‚ binary numbers (zero or one) or any arbitrary choice (“one or the other”).358
Glossary
Animate The quality of things that allows us to say they are alive‚ or seem lifelike... This covers not just things like people or animals‚ but also things that seem to move on their own‚ or even things which possess a “lively” quality‚ such as an animate conversation.. These may also be referred to as ‘helper verbs’. Auxiliary verb A verb that is used to give additional meaning to another verb. Assertive Bold‚ conﬁdent‚ or even aggressively self-assured. Cardinal A cardinal number diﬀers from a normal number in that it refers to a number belonging to a particular set. Notice that no choice is ever truly binary‚ since there is always the choice to not pick either‚ and sometimes even allowing both to be picked‚ thus making binary choices secretly ternary choices‚ and sometimes even quaternary choices. In English‚ these are the indeﬁnite articles “a” and “an” and the deﬁnite article “the”. Cohortative A word form or construction that suggests performing some action. For example‚ if we have a collection of 10 marbles marked 1 through 10‚ then the marble with number 6 wri en on it has cardinal number 6. Contrast this to ordinal numbers‚ which indicate a number is part of some sequence.
. However‚ if we look at in which order we can take the marbles out of some container and the marble marked with the number 6 is the ﬁrst marble we pull out‚ then its ordinal number is 1 (because it’s the ﬁrst in the series of “drawn marbles”)‚ but its cardinal number is still 6 (because it’s still marble 6 in the collection of marbles).

Continuative An inﬂection indicating that the action represented by the inﬂected word is still in eﬀect‚ either ‘as is’‚ or as part of a more complex inﬂection. The biggest possible contrast is called polar contrast‚ where two things are presented as opposites (‘lying on opposite poles’)‚ rather than merely diﬀering. An example in Japanese is なければ being turned into なきゃ through a combination of omission and replacement. Connotation The commonly understood meaning of a word or phrase‚ rather than its literal meaning.
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Conditional A word form or construction that indicates something is dependent on something else happening‚ or being a particular way. Conjugation A derived form of a verb‚ adjective or noun through inﬂection‚ either by modiﬁcation‚ additions‚ or both. Conjugational bases A conjugational base is the most basic verbal “building block” in Japanese grammar‚ upon which all verbal inﬂections are built. Contraction The phenomenon in which certain parts of speech get shortened by either dropping (series of) syllables or replacing series of syllables with shorter‚ diﬀerent syllables. Copula A word or part of phrase used to deﬁne‚ or couple‚ things. Contrasting Showing two things as being diﬀerent in one or more respects. In Japanese‚ these are a large number of copulae‚ with the two words だ and です being the most used‚ for informal and formal coupling respectively. Of these‚ the 終止形 is no longer used‚ and the 已然形 is also referred to as the 仮定形(かていけい) (potential base) in modern Japanese‚ as it is only used for hypothetical constructions. An example of this in English is the word “cannot” being turned into “can’t” through omission. The general description is in the form “If A‚ then B”‚ with A representing a condition‚ and B representing the consequence should the condition be met. Context All information‚ both explicit and implied‚ that indicates how to interpret pronouns and referential information in one or more sentences. Counter A word used to indicate that a numerical statement should be considered as representing a count of some thing(s)‚ rather than a plain number. These are: 1) the 未然形(みぜんけい)‚ imperfect base‚ 2) the 連用形(れんよけい)‚ continuative base‚ 3) the 終止形(しゅうしけい)‚ ﬁnalising base‚ 4) the 連体形(れんたいけい)‚ a ributive base‚ 5) the 已然形(いぜんけい)‚ perfective base‚ and 6) the 命令形(め いれいけい)‚ commanding base. For instance‚ “take a chair” connotes si ing down‚ rather than the literal taking of a chair.Glossary Compound A word that has been formed by combining two or more words. In English‚ this is the verb “to be”‚ which is used in deﬁnitions‚ such as “the sky is blue”. Contrast to “denotation”.
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Familiar speech A speech pa ern used when talking to people whom you are intimately acquainted with. Formal speech A speech pa ern used when talking to people who you are not intimately acquainted with. Desirative A word or phrase that expresses desires. Contrast to “masculine”. Existential Referring to “being”‚ either as a concrete or abstract thing.360
Glossary
Decomposition Reducing compound constructions to their individual parts. Emphatic A word or part of phrase that places emphasis on a ma er. In Japanese‚ this tense does not explicitly exist. Deferred Indirect. Dubitative A word or part of phrase that expresses doubt about some ma er. Direct Not hiding one’s true intentions behind suggestive phrasing or formality patterns‚ “speaking one’s mind”. Future tense A verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future. Contrast to “indirect object”‚ compare to “subject”. Derogative A word or phrase that suggests someone or something is worth less than they really are. Diacritic A mark or symbol added or a ached to a le er or character to distinguish it from another of similar form. Eﬀeminate A word or part of phrase that is associated with being used predominantly by women. In English‚ this uses the auxiliary verb “will”. Genitive Expressing a word or part of phrase belongs to‚ or is speciﬁed by‚ another word or part of phrase. Distal Impersonal. Beli ling‚ detracting‚ expressing low opinion of. Direct object That part of phrase that receives the action of a transitive verb. Contrast to “subordinate”. From the Latin “genitus”‚ meaning “bego en”. Contrast to “informal speech”.
. For instance‚ in “I throw a ball” the word “ball” as direct object receives its action from the verb “throw”. Formality A particular behavioural pa ern used for the sake of procedure or decorum. Dominant That which is most important.

. Instrumentalis A part of phrase that is used to indicate actions are performed by some indicated means. Habitual An act that is performed regularly‚ or some state that is regularly the case. Contrast to “direct”. Imperfect A verb form expressing that some action has not (yet) been performed‚ or some state is not (yet) the case. Intimate Close or personal association or acquaintanceship. Contrast to “out-group”. For instance‚ in the sentence “I like whistling”‚ the verb “whistling” acts as gerund‚ as it can be replaced with any other noun‚ while remaining a valid sentence. Honoriﬁc A form of language in which one raises the perceived status of subjects. Glo al stop A stop consonant‚ formed by brieﬂy closing the glo is while a empting to speak anyway‚ followed by opening the vocal cords to release the built up pressure. Indirect Hiding one’s true intentions by using suggestive phrasing and formality pa erns. Interrogative A word used to question something. Informal speech A speech pa ern used when talking to people whom you are either familiar or intimately acquainted with. Implication A statement that suggests that something is the case without explicitly saying this. Interpunction The use of punctuation marks in wri en language to indicate its structure. Contrast to “formal speech”.Glossary
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Gerund Using a verb in a way that acts as a noun. For instance‚ “We went to school by car” has the word “by” acting as instrumentalis. The in-group is a dynamic concept‚ and people who are part of one’s in-group in one se ing need not automatically be part of one’s in-group in another se ing. In-group The group of people that in a particular se ing are considered part of the same group that you are part of. Inanimate Anything that is not animate. In English these are words such as “who”‚ “what”‚ “where”‚ “why”‚ “when”‚ “how”‚ etc. Intangible Not being perceivable by any of the physical senses. Contrast to “tangible”. Inﬂection Modifying a verbal word to indicate its grammatical role.

Masculine A word or part of phrase that is associated with being used predominantly by men. Compare to “onomatopoeia”. In English‚ common moods are “imperative”‚ “subjective”‚ and “indicative”. Kana The collective term for the hiragana and katakana scripts. Nominaliser A word or part of phrase that changes the grammatical role of other words or parts of phrase into the one played by nominals (nouns). Mimesis Words that illustrate an aspect of the world.362
Glossary
Intransitive A verb category that indicates that a verb is used to describe states of (part of) the world‚ rather than actions that take place in it. Mood For verbs‚ mood is that aspect of a verb that indicates how the verb’s subphrase relates to the rest of the sentence. Also used to refer to syllables from these scripts. Ordinal A number representing some place in an ordered sequence or list. Noun A word class that is used to name a person‚ place‚ thing‚ quality‚ or action. Irregular verb A verb that conjugates in a manner that does not follow the usual rules of conjugation. Onomatopoeia A word that illustrates a sound made by something‚ such as the word “thunk” in the phrase “The rock went ‘thunk’ as it hit the ﬂoor”. An example is the Japanese “kira kira” which represents a sparkling or intermi ently shining state. Note that not all kanji exist in the Chinese character set‚ and not all Chinese characters exist in the Japanese character set. Contrast to “eﬀeminate”. Modiﬁer A word or part of phrase that modiﬁes or narrows down the deﬁnition of another word or part of phrase.
. Out-group Everyone who is not part of your in-group. Nominalising Turning a word or part of phrase into a nominal. Kanji The Japanese version of Chinese characters. Compare to “mimesis”. Contrast to “transitive”. Operative A word that is the focus of some eﬀect‚ state or action. Negative A word or part of phrase that states (“asserts”) that something is “not”.

Contrast to “suﬃx”. Plural The word form used to indicate multiple instances. For instance‚ the sentence “the cake was eaten by the children” is in passive voice‚ as it describes the state of the cake (eaten) rather than the action taken to eﬀect this state. Potential Indicating that some state or action is possible. For instance‚ “the window is opening” is a progressive action‚ which will result in the window being in an opened state. In English‚ there are two personal zones‚ namely “near me” and “not near me”‚ leading to the pronouns “here” and “there” or “this” and “that” respectively. Contrast to “imperative” and “commanding”.Glossary
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Particles A class of words that are used to characterise words or parts of phrase as having a particular grammatical role. In English‚ as in Japanese‚ “aﬃrmative” and “negative”. Past tense The verb tense that indicates some state was the case‚ or some action took place‚ in the past. Contrast to “active”. In Japanese‚ there are three personal zones‚ namely “near me”‚ “near my conversational partner(s)” and “not near either of these two”‚ leading to the kosoado words “koko”‚ “soko” and “asoko” or “kore”‚ “sore” and “are” respectively. Preposition A word that is added before another word or part of phrase to indicate its relation to the rest of the phrase. Passive The verb form that describes some state of (part of) the world‚ rather than some action taking place in it. Pitch The perceived frequency (for speech usually described in terms of ‘height’ rather than physical waveform period length) of sounds. Perfect A verb tense that indicates the action described by the verb has been completed. Personal zone Refers to the conceptual locations available for referencing to. Polarity It indicates what a verb asserts. Progressive Some action that is taking place‚ or “progressing”‚ in the world‚ leading up to some resultant state. Preﬁx Something that is added to the front of a word to change its meaning in some way.
. Prohibiting Forbidding something. Presumptive Expressing a belief about some ma er without evidence to support the belief. Present tense The verb tense that indicates some state is the case‚ or some action is taking place‚ at this moment.

Pseudo-future A verb form that is not a true future form‚ but has certain aspects of it. Contrast to “preﬁx”. In Japanese‚ the pseudo-future does not indicate a future tense‚ but is only used when some verb may turn out to describe a state in the world or an action taking place in it at a later time‚ such as a cohortative‚ dubitative or presumptive. For instance‚ the act of opening the window leads to the resultant state of an open window. Reserved speech A form of speech where one exercises self-restraint‚ trying to keep one’s thoughts and ideas to oneself‚ by stating ma ers as impersonal possibility or as fact. Syllabaries The set of wri en characters of a language of which each character stands for a syllable. Suﬃx Something that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning in some way. Pronunciation The way language sounds when spoken. Subject The principal actor or performer in a verb phrase. Radical A kanji that can be used to index and look up other kanji with. Subphrase A section of a phrase that can act as a phrase on its own. Punctuation Symbols added to wri en text for visual separation‚ such as full stops‚ commas‚ quotation marks‚ etc. There are 214 of these radicals‚ called the “classical radicals”‚ but many of these have one or more variations when used as graphemes in larger kanji‚ leading to roughly 400 graphemes being used as radical. Superlative The word that expresses the highest level of some quality. Quantiﬁcation Expressing something as a quantity‚ either in numerical values or conceptual quantities such as “a li le” or “a lot”. Stem The part of a word that does not change when that word is inﬂected. Contrast to “dominant”.364
Glossary
Pronoun A word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence and refers to this replaced noun instead.
. Resultant state A state describing (part of) the world‚ that comes from a certain action having been performed. English superlatives are “best”‚ “most”‚ “highest”‚ “largest”‚ “quickest”‚ etc. Subordinate That which is less important. See “progressive”.

Transliteration The act of writing out a language in a script diﬀerent from the one used in that language‚ without translating. Topic At the sentence level‚ topic refers to the word(s) that describe(s) information that the rest of the sentence bears relation to. For instance‚ past‚ present or future. Verbal Relating to verbs.
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Syntax The compositional rules of a language‚ typically consisting of the rules for how to write sounds and interpunction‚ and how to combine entities in the language in grammatically sound ways. Tense Indicating the time frame in which the verb action takes place. Tangible Being perceivable by any of the ﬁve major physical senses (sight‚ hearing‚ smell‚ taste or touch)‚ especially the sense of touch. Contrast to “intransitive”. Verbs Words that describe a particular state of (part of) the world‚ or actions taking place in it. Volitional Making a conscious choice or decision yourself‚ as opposed to being forced to make one‚ or having it made for you. Verbal adjectives Words that act as adjectives‚ a ributing some quality to nouns‚ which can be inﬂected to show tense‚ mood‚ and polarity in the same way verbs can. Transitive A verb category that indicates verbs describing actions that are being performed by some actor‚ taking place in the world.
. At the discourse (‘full text’) level‚ the topic describes the concepts that the whole text is about.Glossary Syllable A unit of spoken language‚ typically of uniform duration. Contrast to “intangible”.